


Dead Upon Arrival

by xoxojcanne



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:41:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 51,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23396440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxojcanne/pseuds/xoxojcanne
Summary: the monster inside of you is torturing meCo written with keeryscupofjoe
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves/Oc
Kudos: 13





	1. // chapter one : we only see each other at weddings and funerals //

**Author's Note:**

> This story is originally published on wattpad

Pandora twisted the silver knob, opening the door and letting herself back into her home. She dropped her bag on a countertop before walking back to the living room. Her older sister Marin was curled up in one of the large chairs in the living room, peeping her head around the corner as Pandora stepped in.

"Did your exhibit go well?" Marin asked with genuine curiosity.

"Yeah, a good handful of non regulars showed up so that's pretty good," Pandora said, turning on the tv to the news before sitting down. "We're expecting more people coming in over the next few days," Pandora picked up some knitting needles and the blanket that she had been working on, continuing where she left off.

Marin broke the short length of silence that developed while watching the news and asked, "Are you picking up Klaus in the morning or am I?"

"I told him I would, I even called in for tomorrow..." Pandora started, however her attention was grabbed by the current news report: "Sir Reginald Hargreeves has been found dead in his home...."

Pandora gasped, setting down her needles and placing her hands over her mouth, "Oh my god." Marin too was now glued to the tv screen ahead of them, not nearly as affected as her younger sister.

"My god," Marin commented, "I thought the old man would never drop dead."

...

1994

Pandora stepped up onto the stairs of the Umbrella Academy, her mother holding her hand tightly in one hand and Marin in the other. Robin let go of Pandora's hand just for a moment to knock on the doors of the academy, grabbing Pandora's hand yet again after.

"Momma, why are we here?" Pandora asked, looking up at her mom.

"Because sweetie, we gotta meet our neighbors, that what's what we do what you move somewhere new," Robin explained. "Besides, there someone here that can help you Pandora."

In that moment, the door of the academy opened, and they were met by a blonde woman wearing an apron, "Are you here to see Sir Reginald?" The woman asked.

"Yes, we are," Robin nodded.

The woman smiled then opened the door wider for them to enter, "Sir Reginald is in his office at the moment, I will take you up to meet him. Do you want me to introduce them to the other children?" The woman asked

"Of course, Marin and Pandora will love to meet them." Robin nodded.

"Great, my name is Grace," The woman smiled yet again, "The children are in their study at the moment, but they will love to meet someone new. Follow me please," They followed Grace down several hallways, eventually coming upon a collection of bedrooms.

"This here, is Vanya, or Number Seven," Grace introduced. "Vanya, meet Pandora and Marin," The girl that was standing in that particular bedroom gave a short wave before looking back down at her books.

"They have numbers for names?" Robin asked.

"Sir Reginald gave them numbers, I gave them names," Grace smiled, "Now, here in this next room is Diego, or Number Two," They went around, introducing themselves to everyone. Luther, Number One. Allison, Number Three. Klaus, Number Four. Five, Number Five. Then finally Ben, Number Six.

"If you want to now, I can take you up to Sir Reginald," Grace said.

"Of course." Robin nodded, then let go of Pandora and Marin's hands, "I'll be done before you know it. If you need anything, just come and get me. I love you two." She kissed them both on the top of their heads, then followed Grace up the stairs.

Given the new and very unfamiliar environment, Pandora and Marin stayed right where they were, shoulder to shoulder in the hallway. From their position in the middle of the hallway, they saw two young kids come out of their rooms and start whispering. One of them was introduced to them as Luther and the other was Allison. They walked over to the pair and said hello for the second time that evening.

"You wanna play hide and seek?" Allison asked. Pandora and Marin first looked at eachother, then nodded shortly. "Good! Vanya, you go with Marin and Ben you go with Pandora."

"Why do I have to play with a buddy?" Ben questioned, almost complaining.

"They've never played here and they don't know anywhere to hide, what if they get scared? I'll count to one hundred in my room, go!" As soon as she said that, everyone scattered, including Allison who bolted to her room.

"Follow me!" Ben said, then grabbed Pandora's hand as they ran down the hallway, at the end, they came across a kitchen. Ben opened an empty floor cabinet and motioned for Pandora to get in. After her, he squeezed himself in too and shut the door.

"Do you have a power too?" Pandora asked after spending quite a few minutes in the dark of the cabinet.

"Uh, I don't know." Ben responded. "But I hope I can fly."

"That would be so cool! I wish I could fly," Pandora whispered, "You wanna be best friends? All I have is Marin."  
"Yeah, best friends," Ben smiled.

...

Pandora opened the doors to the Umbrella Academy, greeted by the large wooden stairs ahead of her. She took off her coat, hanging it on a nearby rack. The house was eerily silent like it had been for the past thirteen years, earlier times willed with laughter and yelling children. Now it destined to stay this quiet for the rest of its existence.

"Pandora? Is that you?" Pandora turned her head to see the the person the voice came from in just the other room. Number Three, better known as Allison Hargreeves, stood in the doorway. Allison stood a lot taller from the last time she saw her in person, although, Marin and her were always seeing her in blockbuster films.

A smile danced across Pandora's face, it'd been years since she'd seen her welcoming face, "Allison, it's so good to see you again," Allison pulled Pandora into a hug, towering over her short stature, "I just wish we were meeting on better conditions, I'm so sorry about your Father."

Allison let go of the hug and sighed, "You know, things happen and it was his time to go, coroner said that he passed from a heart attack." Suddenly Allison perked up with another question, "Will Marin be coming anytime soon? For the funeral at least? She spent as much time over here as you did."

"Marin's at piano rehearsal, but she'll be here for the funeral. She'll be glad to see everyone again," Pandora nodded.

"I'm glad... I just," Allison began, "I was afraid that you wouldn't come because of what Vanya said in her book," Allison stated, looking down at the floor before looking back up at Pandora again.

Pandora shrugged, not letting Allison be aware of how much Vanya's words had hurt her, "I'm aware of what Vanya wrote in her book and to be honest, I didn't really appreciate on how she painted me as a whore. But, there comes a point in the process of where you can only forgive," Pandora said truthfully. "Speaking of which, have you seen Klaus come into the house? I was supposed to pick him up from rehab but they said he checked out last night."

The actress looked around as if she was collecting her thoughts, "I haven't seen him yet, but Diego and Luther might have," she then suggested, "I would suggest looking around, I'm going to wait until Vanya shows up so she's not alone when she get here."

"Good Idea, I'll talk to you later Allison," Pandora smiled, then passed by Allison, pacing up the steps ahead of her. As she reached the top of the stairs, she turned to the left, heading towards Reginald Hargreeves' office with the feeling that Klaus would be ransacking his dad's office, looking for anything of value. That suspicion came true as soon as she stepped into the office.

Klaus had his back to the door, his arms moving frantically as he searched for anything worth something. "So, Klaus... Where were you when I was supposed to pick you up from rehab?" Pandora asked, leaning against the frame of the door. Klaus dropped whatever he was carrying, the objects scattering across the hardwood floor, obviously startled at her voice.

He straightened up laughed a little bit to hopefully work the disappointment off of Pandora. "Oh, my dear Pandora it's so good to see you! They let me out just last night, I'm so sorry that I didn't get the memo to you in time," Klaus said, feigning innocence before moving to hug Pandora.

"Klaus you saw me just a couple of weeks ago."

"But you know how much I miss your face. Hey! Have you seen anyone else yet? You know, besides Ben? I saw Diego but he's always brooding, he's more brooding than usual and Ben's always following me around, besides when he's with you," Klaus asked, letting her go from his hug.

"I saw Allison when I walked in, and Vanya's on her way," Pandora told him.

"Speak of the devil, Allison is that you?" Klaus asked, moving past pandora and hugging his sister who had now appeared in the doorway as well, "Long time, too long. I was actually hoping to see you, actually. I wanted your autograph, add it to my collection."

"So you just got out of rehab I hear?" Allison asked, letting him go from a hug.

"No, no, no, no," Klaus laughed, pulling down his coat sleeves to cover up the rehab bracelet he had on his wrist, "I'm done with all of that, ask Pandora even. I just came down here to prove myself that the old man was really gone. And he is! Yay! He's dead!" Klaus moved back into the room, near the desk. "You know how I know? Because if he were alive, not one of us would set foot in this room. He was always in here, our entire childhood, plotting his next torment," He finished off with sitting in the chair to further prove his point. "Remember how he used to look at us? With that god awful scowl? Thank Christ he's not our real father, so we wouldn't inherit those cold dead eyes! Ah!" Klaus pushed back his eyelids, making a face as he did "Number Three!" Allison couldn't help herself but laugh.

"Get out of his chair," Yet another Hargreeves sibling stepped inside the room. This time, it was Number One, known as Luther. Pandora hadn't seen him in several years, and he seemed like he hasn't changed a bit since then. Still a daddy's boy and still hardass, however, he did seemed less confident in his step.

"Oh, wow Luther, you uh, really filled out the past several years huh?" Klaus asked, standing up from the chair.

"Klaus-," Luther started.

"Save the lecture, I was on my way out anyways," Klaus waved off the words that was coming out of his brothers mouth, "You guys can talk amongst yourselves." As Klaus was leaving, Luther grabbed his arm.

"Drop it."

"Exsqueeze me?"

"Do it, now."

"Luther, let Klaus go," Pandora spoke.

"All right, all right." Klaus jerked his arm out of Luther's grasp, then started dropping items from his coat, "It's just an advance on our inheritance. That's all it is. No need to get your little panties in a bunch." Klaus moved past Luther exiting the room. Pandora excused herself, following Klaus.

"Pandora, Pandora, Pandora, I'm fine. There's no need for you to follow me around," Klaus said, stopping in the middle of the hallway.

"How do I know that you're not going to go and buy drugs?" Pandora asked, "Klaus I just want the best for you."

Klaus turned toward his friend and patted her head, "Don't worry your little head about me, I'll be back before you know it. Trust me, you won't even notice I'm gone!" Klaus smiled, then started to head down the stairs.

...

Of what was left of the Hargreeves siblings, with the addition of Pandora, was now gathered in the living room. Diego, or Number Two, sitting by the fireplace along with Allison. Klaus was in the back mixing up his own drink while Vanya, Number Seven, was sitting alone on the couch with Luther facing her on the second couch just across from her. Pandora stood leaning against the doorway, arms folded across her chest while staring at the floor.

"I guess we should get this started," Luther said, then stood up from his spot on the couch, "So I figured we could have sort of a memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words at Dad's favorite spot."

"Dad had a favorite spot?" Allison questioned.

"Yeah, under the oak tree," Luther responded, "We used to sit out here all the time. None of you did that?"

"Will there be refreshments?" Klaus asked, heading back towards where everyone was sitting, with a blunt in one hand and a drink in the other, "Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner."

"What? No, and put that out. Dad didn't allow smoking in here," Luther shook his head.

"Is that my skirt?" Allison asked.

"What? Oh yeah, this, I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know. But it's very breathy on the uh... bits," Klaus gestured down, sitting after his explanation.

"Listen up, there's still some important things that we need to discuss, all right?" Luther dismissed.

"Like what?" Diego asked.

"Like the way he died," Luther answered.

"Here we go," Diego muttered.

"Luther, there's nothing weird or special about the way that he died, it was just a heart attack. Old people, like Reignald, die of them every day," Pandora jutted in.

"I agree with Pandora, It was just a heart attack," Vanya put in, "Dad was getting old, and that just the way he went."

"Yeah, according to the coroner," Luther argued.

"Well, wouldn't they know?"

"Theoretically. I'm just saying at the very least something happened. The last time I talked to Dad he sounded strange."

"You know, this is none of my own business, I should leave," Pandora shook her head, then started to turn her back to the siblings.

"Yeah, It would be best for you to leave Pandora. It's a family only kind of thing," Luther said.

"No, Pandora can stay. She's basically family anyways," Diego stood up in Pandora's defense, annoyed with his brother.

"An in-law at best," Pandora then walked up to Luther, "But I guess that's still up to debate by some." Pandora stepped away from Luther and walked away from the living room.

...

Pandora walked the halls of the academy, her hands deep in her pockets. She was weirdly hurt by what Luther had said. It was true that Pandora had been dismissing herself for years from academy discussions since Ben had died, she never wanted to take the risk of the mention of his death. Pandora found herself running her fingers across the faded walls in the hallway, passing the cartoon pictures of techniques too familiar for her liking.

She stopped short just before Ben's bedroom and froze in an odd mix of emotions. Pandora took a deep breath and opened the door.

The bedroom had been left the same for last decade or so. The same sun bleached posters hanging on the wall, the same bed sheets on the walls, the same clothes hanging in the closet. Pandora moved to the twin bed, sitting down on for the first time in nearly thirteen years. Her fingers feeling along the grooves of the fabric, the grooves he felt nearly every night. The same picture of her and Ben of when they were seventeen sat framed on the nightstand.

Pandora closed her eyes, concentrating for only a moment, only slightly exercising her power before her soul separated itself from her body. Her body, like usual, slumped to the side as she stood apart from it.

This, in fact, was normal for Pandora. Like all the other Hargreeves siblings that were born on the same day and hour as her, she had her own power. Her soul willingly leaving her body is one of the many things she can do, although Soul Manipulation was a broad umbrella.

Standing just in the doorway, was the one person that she wanted to see.   
"Klaus being impossible again?" Ben asked, crossing his arms.

Pandora smiled and shook her head, "Nah, he's just like usual, it's your siblings, or, uh, should I say sibling, that is the impossible one." Pandora shook her head, the anger finally starting to get to her, "Did you hear what Luther said? The way he's already treating Klaus? It hasn't even been a day and it's your fathers funeral for Christs sake."

Ben moved away from the door frame, effectively halting Pandora's tangent, "I know, but given the very short time we have with each other, we shouldn't talk about Luther," Ben reminded her, settling his hands on her arms.

"I know, I know," Pandora said, moving over towards him and taking his ghostly hands into hers. All of this, the soul interaction, never felt the same as when she used to hold his hands, when the blood was pumping through them at a steady pace. When they kiss, when they hug, sure, she felt something but it wasn't truly him. However, Pandora never complained, she knew she didn't have that right, not with her powers.

Ben gently took her face and kissed her, then shortly pulled her into a hug after.

Loud muffled music began playing throughout the house, evidently coming from one of the bedrooms down the hall. It took a minute for both Ben and Pandora to recognize the song, but once they did, it brought them back to their teenage years, even if it was a song before their time. Ben stared down the hall towards the music, somewhat glaring at the person who decided to play the tune, however, Pandora seemed to have other ideas.

A large grin appeared across Pandora's face as she slowly began to pull Ben into the center of his childhood bedroom. Wordlessly, she let go of his hands and started to do a goofy dance along with the beat, twirling and laughing in addition. Ben folded his arm bit back a smile, watching his love move without a care in the world, something he knows she hasn't done in a long time.

Finally, after much pulling and silent pleading, Ben decided to join in on the fun and dance with Pandora. What they were doing couldn't be defined by words, nothing can describe what they just did other than the fact that they should be glad no one but a junkie could see them in this plane.

With a laugh, Ben twirled Pandora and pulled her close to his chest, looking down at how much her features had changed over the years.

A large thunder boom shook the house, Pandora quickly apologized to Ben and fell back into her body. She stood up, groaning at how her slightly stiff muscles strained when she began to move. Pandora bolted down the hallway, meeting the others that had assembled in the courtyard. A strange, blue portal had spawned just above their heads ahead of them.

"What the hell is that?" Pandora yelled over the noise.

"I don't know, stand behind me!" Luther responded, pushing his arms backwards as a barrier between them and the portal.

"Don't get too close!" Allison called.

"Yeah no shit!" Diego responded.

"It looks like some temporal anomaly, either that or a black hole, ether one of those two," Luther stated.

"Pretty big difference between the two, Paul Bunyan."

"Get out of the way!" Klaus yelled, right before chucking a fire extinguisher into the portal.

"What is that going to do?"

"I don't know. Do you have a better idea?" Klaus asked defeated, his arms falling back to his sides.

A louder crack in the hole in the space time continuum sent Klaus running back behind the group, back to Pandora. A figure appeared in the portal, he seemed to be struggling through the portal, screaming as he does. And soon enough, the figure passed through the portal and collapsed on the ground, the portal he'd fallen out of disappearing.   
As they approached the figure, they could see that he was young, no more than thirteen. As he stood, everyone had recognized him.

"Does anyone else see little Number Five too? Or is that just me?" Klaus questioned.

"Shit," Five cursed, looking down at himself.

...

Number Five never wanted a name, but that wasn't important due to the fact that they thought he died years ago. Now he was in front them, assembling a sandwich as if nothing strange had happened fifteen minutes ago.

"What's the date? The exact date," Five asked, gathering ingredients as he went along the kitchen.

"The 24th," Vanya responded

"Of what?"

"March."

"Good," Five answered, he almost sounded relieved.

"So, are we going to talk about what just happened?" Luther asked. Five didn't answer as he took two slices of bread and laid them out on the table. Luther stood up from his seat, distressed like the rest of them, "It's been seventeen years."

"It's been a lot longer than that," Five scoffed, then blinked out of Luther's way, grabbing some marshmallows from the cabinet.

"I haven't missed that," Luther shook his head.

"Where did you go?" Diego asked.

"The future, it's shit by the way," Five answered, then blinked back to where his bread was lying on the table.

"Called it!" Klaus exclaimed.

"I should have listened to the old man," Five said, then grabbed a jar of peanut butter. "You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice," He stopped for a moment to look back up at all of them huddled together at the counter, then looked back down at his sandwich, "Nice Dress."

"Oh, well, danke!" Klaus smiled.

"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya asked.

"In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward to a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time," Five summarized.

"That makes no sense," Diego shook his head, speaking for everyone.

"Well, it would if you were smarter."  
Before Diego could fully stand up, Luther stuck out his arm to stop him. Pandora too putting a hand on his shoulder, soothing him.

"How long were you there?" Luther asked.

"Forty-Five years, give or take."

Both Luther and Diego sat down at the table finally.

"So you're what? 58?" Pandora asked.

"No, my consciousness is 58," Five answered, "Apparently, my body is thirteen again." He closed the sandwich, then took a bite out of it.

"How does that even work?" Vanya asked.

"Delores kept saying the equations were off. Eh. Bet she's laughing now," Five picked up a newspaper that was lying on the table, "I must have missed the funeral."

"How did you know about that?" Luther asked.

"What part of the future do you not understand?" Five shot back, "Heart failure huh?"

"Yeah-," Diego started.

"No," Luther interrupted, a usual interaction between the two.

"Nice to see nothing's changed," Five commented, "Although, Pandora, I thought you would have left after Ben died. You knew how much of a shit show this family was, even before the book was a thing." With that, Five headed straight out the door of the kitchen.

"That's it? That's all you're going to say?" Allison asked, turning towards the door.

"What else is there to say?" Five responded from the other room "The circle of life."

"Well," Luther said, "That was interesting."

...

"Hey, I'm here, did I miss anything?" Marin asked, coming through the front door of the academy, closing her umbrella.

"The funerals just about to start, good timing," Pandora nodded as Marin followed her to the back door, "Everyone's here, including Five."

"Five?" Marin asked, "I thought-."

"Me too. Todays just been a lot. Apparently he's been stuck in time, it's easier if he explains it," Pandora shook her head. She opened the door, everyone, including Pogo and Grace, were standing out in the courtyard. Luther and Diego, however, stood umbrella-less, using nothing to protect themselves from the heavy rain.

Pandora and Marin moved behind everyone, sharing an umbrella as they stood next to Ben's statue in the courtyard. Vanya glanced over at Marin and quickly looked back down once they made eye contact.

"Did something happen?" Grace asked.

"Dad died... Remember?" Allison answered.

"Oh. Yes, of course," Grace nodded, smiling a bit.

"Is mom okay?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, Yeah she's fine," Diego answered, "She just needs to rest. You know, recharge."

"Whenever you're ready, dear boy," Pogo nodded towards Luther, who was holding the urn that contained Reignald's ashes. Luther nodded in reply and opened the urn, dumping out the contents, which only collected into a small wet pile of dust.

"Probably would have been better with some wind," Luther said, putting the top back onto the urn.

"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked, then looked around at the circle. No one raised their voice to speak. "Very well. In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me who I am today. For that alone, I am forever in his debt. He was my master and my friend, and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy-"

"He was a monster," Diego interrupted, "He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him."

"Diego," Allison replied firmly.

"My name, is Number Two. You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mom do it."

"Would anyone like anything to eat?" Grace asked, clearly not registering what scene was unfolding before her.

"No, it's okay mom," Vanya said.

"Oh, Okay," Grace smiled and went back to being silent, her smile dropping shortly after that.

"Look, you wanna pay your respects, Go ahead. But at least be honest on what kind of person he was," Diego continued.

"You should stop talking now," Luther said, anger entering his voice.

"You know, you of all people should be on my side, Number One," Diego said.

"I'm warning you."

"After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away-."

"Diego. Stop. Talking."

"That how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!" Diego jabbed a finger into Luther's chest to further his point. Luther grabbed Diego's arm, swinging a punch Diego easily dodged.

"Boys! Stop this at once!" Pogo shouted. But they didn't listen to the butler as they continued to fight, shouting at each other as they fought.

"Stop it!" Vanya shouted out.

"Come on! Hit him!" Klaus egged on.

"I don't have time for this," Five shook his head, then headed back inside with Pogo shortly.

Luther grabbed Diego, tossing him to the side, Diego got up quickly. Luther swung at Diego, but instead of striking Diego, he hit Ben's statue, which continued to fall, breaking the head right off the neck of the statue.

"Oh my god," Pandora gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Well, there goes Ben's statue," Allison shook her head, then headed back inside.

"What the actual HELL Luther?" Marin exclaimed, her eyebrows furrowing together.

Before anyone could react, Diego pulled out a knife, and ficked it towards Luther, which sliced through his arm. Luther gasped, looking down at his wound. He ran back to the inside of the house before anyone could see. Vanya apparently had left amidst all the fighting

Diego watched Luther leave and walked up to Grace, "Come on mom, let's go inside." He guided his mother into the house, choosing not to look neither Pandora nor Marin in the eye.

Pandora's eyes welled up with tears as she approached the fallen statue. "Oh god, Oh god, Oh god," she sobbed, crouching down to pick up the head of the statue, tears falling freely down her face. Her rain and clothes quickly soaked in the rain, becoming drenched, but she didn't care. She held the head close to her chest as she sobbed, sucking in ragged breaths. "He broke the statue, he, he broke Ben's statue," Pandora's body was now violently shaking, words left her mouth but no one would be able to comprehend what she could've said. Klaus, still sitting on the bench, looked away and smoked his blunt, deciding this was a situation he shouldn't be involved in.

Marin sat close by her as she cried out, placing her hand on her back gently. "Hey Pandora, let's head home. It's not good for you to be here right now," She said gently. Pandora couldn't respond, just nodded as she stood up with Marin, still clutching the statue head.


	2. // chapter one : we only see each other at weddings and funerals //

Cast of: Dead Upon Arrival

Constance Wu as : Pandora Green

Gemma Chan as : Marin Green

INTRODUCTION

On the eleventh hour of the first dot of October 1989, Robin Green gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Upon her birth, her parents gave her the name of Marin.

Although, this is not the story of Marin, because like 42 other women in the world at the twelfth hour of the first day of October 1989, her mother gave birth to another healthy baby girl, though she was pregnant with only one baby before stepping foot in the hospital.

This child was named Pandora.

Now the definition of ordinary which most people are familiar with is, "with no special or distinctive features, normal."

Pandora tried her best to fit this, "ordinary," life style. She went to school, made friends with her neighbors, played and quarreled with her sister. But the word, "normal," might be a skewed for a person that is definitely very, very far from the definition.

It should be said that Pandora was not a bad child, in fact she was quite the opposite of the word. Some would say she's troubled but then again anyone with an unworldly skill set thrust upon her at a terrifyingly young age with no definitive way to control it would be slightly troubled.

A young pandora fell in love, but this story isn't about her finding her Prince Charming. This story isn't about the famed Umbrella Academy.

This story, is about Pandora Green.


	3. // chapter two : thank god for orange chicken //

2002

The whole idea behind this plan was nerve wracking, terrifying even. Lying to mom wasn't even the hardest part, Pandora had been doing it for years since they moved. No, the hardest part, the fear was that they'd get caught. Though it was just a donut shop, nobody would care, right?

Robin Green, mother to both Marin and Pandora, shut off the light to the twins' bedroom with a soft, "Goodnight," before she herself went to bed, right after planting a kiss on both of their foreheads. The twins stayed in bed for at least five minutes before they heard a soft knock on the window leading to the fire escape. Pandora got up, tiptoeing over to window. Ben was crouched at the window with Five behind him. She quietly urged Marin to come open the window with her as carefully as possible. The twins lifted up the window, thanking the heavens that the wind wasn't heavy that night.

"You guys coming?" Five whispered. They nodded, Marin getting help from Five while Ben pulled up Pandora.

"Hi," Ben said shyly.

"Hi," Pandora said with a little laugh.

While Five blinked to the ground, Ben, Marin, and Pandora carefully climbed down the creaky fire escape and onto the cool asphalt ground. They turned the corner to see Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus huddled together in their jackets, patiently waiting for the others to get there. "Finally," Diego said, his stone cold face turning into a small smile when he saw Pandora. "H-Hi Pandora," He stuttered out. She exchanged her hellos with him and the rest of the academy before Luther suggested they should all leave.

Ben and Pandora walked behind a very chatty Vanya and Marin, enjoying the company of one another without sharing a word.

A short walk later, they got to Gritty's Donuts, the only light on besides the main sign was the neon animation of a yellow hand dipping a donut into a cup. Everyone got to the main door, turning away to keep a lookout for Five while he blinked into the shop and let them all in. Allison turned on the lights to the seating area and the donut display, the kids crowding at the donuts to choose what they wanted. Vanya quickly grabbed two glazed donuts, one for her and one for Marin, napkins under each one.

Ben urged Pandora to sit down in another booth from the rest of the kids while he grabbed her favorite donut, referred to by Five as a, "Chocolate Heart Attack."

"Hey I got you your favorite before Klaus got them all," Ben smiled as she sat down by her, "You know how klaus is."

"I know exactly how Klaus is," Pandora replied, biting into her donut, "Thank you Ben."

Ben just nodded in response, biting into his own.

"I guess training was rough for the rest of you guys too, and that's why we're getting donuts tonight," Pandora commented as she pulled one knee to her chest.

"Training is just rough in general with Dad, I don't really know when I have a good day or a bad day in training," Ben shook his head, "I guess it's measured on how many uniforms I go through."

Pandora pursed her lips for a moment, then grabbed Ben's hand that was lying on the table, a common thing pandora did for Ben whenever he was distressed about his ability. "Ben, one day you're never going to have to use your ability ever again," She told him, "and I'm not going to have to use my power ever again either."

"One day," Ben said.

"One day."

Present Day

It was late in the morning when Pandora woke up, her head pounding from all the crying she had done after her and Marin left the Academy. She rolled over to her left side to see that Marin had placed the broken head of Ben's statue on her dresser. Pandora squeezed her eyes shut to prevent anymore tears from welling up, short flashes of the fight that took place flashed across her memory. She took a few deep breaths before removing herself from her bed.

Shuffling out of her bedroom across the cold hardwood floors, she made it to the bathroom to find a yellow sticky note attached to the mirror. The note was from Marin, saying she'd be at a meeting for her set all day. Another one sticky note just below it, written in sharpie was the statement 'Today is going to be a good day.'

Pandora rested her hands against the porcelain sink and studied her face in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and still slightly red, her face was blotchy, dashed with hints of red across her nose and cheeks. Ben's old band sweatshirt he managed to keep hidden from Reginald hung loosely on her torso. It had clearly been worn out, beaten, and lost its smell of Ben but Pandora loved it nevertheless.

The running water in the sink began to flow once Pandora turned both the knobs to get it warm enough for her face. She took her hands and splashed the water on her face a few times.

Her phone began to ring from the other room, a familiar song that usually took place of Marin's ringtone filling her apartment. "Hello?" She spoke, wedging the phone between her shoulder and ear so she could wipe her face with the washcloth her mom gifted her years ago.

Marins' Voice echoed out through the speaker, "Hey bub, Just calling to make sure you got up."

Pandora laughed and laid down on her unmade bed, "Thank you, and thank you for staying with me last night."

"If I didn't, what kind of sister would I be?" Marin asked with a joking tone. "I do have to go though, they're writing out my tour schedule right now and I'd like to not have a concert on your birthday this time, and please bring Ben's head back to the academy, it was creeping me out last night and it isn't technically ours."

"Aw come on, lighten up a bit," Pandora smiled and picked out her clothes for the day, laying them out on her bed.

"Seriously that thing is creepy, the symbolism is nice but not when it's staring at you at ten o'clock at night," Some muffled voices made their way through the phone speaker before Marin continued speaking, "I have to go Pan, I'll talk to you later. Love you."

When the line went dead, Pandora tossed her phone onto her bed and continued to get ready for the day.

Pandora let herself into the academy with Ben's navy blue statue in her arm, bickering was heard from the living room. She followed the noises to see Pogo and Klaus discussing something important though Klaus was dressed in rainbow leopard print briefs and had a blunt in hand.

"Oh, well, lucky bastard," Klaus spoke with his hand on his hip.

"Indeed," Pogo said with a firm tone. He stared at Klaus, apparently making him uncomfortable.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Pandora stepped in, bringing forth the broken piece of Ben's courtyard statue. Klaus visibly relaxed at the sight of Pandora.

Pogo looked over at the noise, his features relaxing a bit as well. "No, not at all Ms. Pandora, our conversation was almost to an end. I see that you've returned some of Ben's statue."

"Yeah, I accidentally took it after last night, I was in so much distress I didn't even register that it wasn't mine," Pandora shook her head.

Pogo walked over the Pandora, his cane clicking on the hardwood floor with every step he took. The butler stopped just to the right of Pandora, turning his head to look her in the eye. "It was never really ours in the first place," He said only loud enough for Pandora to hear before disappearing into the depths of the house.

Pandora watched Pogo walk away, Ben's head still clutched tightly against her body. She snapped out of her state when she heard Klaus harshly snap at the couch. Pandora set Ben's head down on the bar, walked over and took Klaus's blunt from his hands before he could take another drag. She put the blunt out in the ashtray, shaking her head.

"Hey," Klaus complained.

"You just got out of rehab," Pandora stated, noticing a small ziplock bag poking out of Klaus's jacket. She grabbed the jacket and took out the bag despite the frequent objections by Klaus, "You've got to be joking Klaus. Do you know how much money it was to send you back to rehab?"

"Those aren't mine," Klaus retorted. Pandora scoffed and stuffed them into her jacket pocket, disappointment laced in her eyes. Klaus's focus snapped away from Pandora to the area behind him, he groaned loudly and yelled, "Shut UP, Ben." Pandora shifted her gaze the couch, smiling at the thought of Ben but also curious as to what he may have said to Klaus as they bickered. "I'm not going to- No!... If I do will you stop talking? Christ," Klaus took a deep breath and rolled his eyes, "Alright, so maybe, those drugs are mine and maybe I stole a box from dad's office with a bunch of 'important documents' and threw them away, but how could I ever know that those documents were priceless. But Ben won't shut up about it so it would mean the world to me if you'd help me find it."

Pandora stood speechless in front of Klaus, wondering how exactly to approach the situation without getting mad.

But before she could state anything back to Klaus and his offer, Five blinked into the living room, landing next to Pandora and Klaus. "Pandora, I need to pretend to be my mom," Was the first thing Five said, deeming a greeting unnecessary.

"Pardon?"

Five sighed impatiently, "I have a glass eye that I found while in the future, it's crucial that I find the owner but they won't take me seriously in this body, so I need you to be my mom. I have twenty dollars."

Pandora shook her head, "I don't need the money, we're good. I owe you a favor anyways." Five nodded his head to say thank you.

"Oh, I do!" Klaus chimed in, raising his hand like a little kid, "I mean if she won't take the money, I certainly will. I could... be your dad! Yeah, because we would just make the perfect couple," Klaus smiled, trying to convince his little brother to give him the job. Five rolled his eyes and sighed, murmuring something both Pandora and Klaus couldn't understand.

"Fine, both of you need something nicer to wear," Five said before moving to leave the room. Pandora was quick to stopping him, noticing something a splotch of red on his collar.

Pandora placed a hand on his shoulder, Five turning back at the gesture. "Five is that... Is that blood on your collar?" She asked, her voiced laced with concern.

Five moved his jacket over his collar, and said, "It's nothing important." He straightened his himself up and left the living room.

When Pandora got back into the Academy, the last thing she expected was to be shoved into a bathroom connected to Five's bedroom; Klaus being stuffed into the mahogany dresser shortly after. The answer as to why came in the room not long after, the voice sounded like Vanya. From what Pandora could tell, she was talking about something Five must've told her in a previous conversation, something about time travel.

Only ten seconds of silence took place before a loud clatter and Klaus's voice was heard. Pandora opened the teal door, careful to not step on anything.

"... All that stuff about family and dad and time, wow-,"Pandora heard Klaus say.

"Will you shut up? She'll hear you!" Five whispered harshly.

"I'm moist," Klaus uttered to conclude his sentence.

Five and Pandora did a double take on the eccentric, though formal blouse. "I thought I told you to put on something professional?" Five said rhetorically.

"What? This is my nicest outfit."

"That looks like something from Marin's closet," Pandora observed, "Did you take that from Marin's closet?"

The room went dead silent for a few seconds before a soft, "Maybe," emitted from Klaus's mouth.

Five sighed, shaking his head simultaneously, "We'll raid the old man's closet."

"Whatever, as long as I get paid," Klaus said, walking behind Pandora, out of the cramped thirteen year olds room.

"When the job is done."

"Okay but just so we're clear on the finer de-tails, Pandora and I just gotta go into this place and pretend to be your dear old mom and dad, correct?" Klaus said, waving his hand to accentuate his point.

"Yeah, something like that," Five confirmed.

"What's our cover story Pandora?" Klaus asked, turning towards her.

Five narrowed his brows and lightly shook his head, "What? What are you talking about?"

"I mean was Pandora really young when she had you, like sixteen, like young and, terribly misguided."

"Sure," Five responded, rolling his eyes.

"Your mother, that slut," Pandora clicked her tongue in disapproval, Klaus gave her a look, apologizing with his gaze, but continued on anyway, "We met at..."

"At a fair?" Pandora suggested.

"Tsk, no. Doesn't ring the right bell. Wait, I know, the disco!" Klaus turned back to Five, "Remember that." He snapped his fingers and lit up with a new thought, "Oh my god, the sex was amaazingggg."

"Klaus-"

"What a disturbing glimpse into a thing you call a brain," Five commented as he leave down the stairs.

"Hey don't make me put you in timeout."

"Like I said to your son before, any information about the prosthetics we build is strictly confidential. Without the client's consent, I simply can't help you," The doctor said, his tone seemingly unwavering. Five's escapade had brought them to Meritech Prosthetics where he told both Pandora and Klaus to sit back while he did the talking. He figured he'd be able to get what he wanted by simply having the presence of the two adults. Klaus was sitting in one chair across the doctors desk while Pandora sat in the chair next to Klaus.

Clearly his plan wasn't working too well. "Well, we can't get consent if you don't give us a name," Five said through gritted teeth.

"Well, that's not my problem. Sorry. Now, there's nothing more I can do so-"

"And what about my consent?" Klaus interrupted, confusing just about everyone else in the see through office.

"Excuse me?" The doctor said, trying to understand what was happening.

"Who gave you permission," Obviously fake sobs began to fall from Klaus's mouth, "To lay your hands," He took a pause to emphasize his faux sadness, then pointed towards Five, "On my son?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I didn't touch your son," It's true, he hadn't. Pandora lifted an eyebrow, still leaning back against her chair.

"Oh, really? Well, then how'd he get that swollen lip, then?"

"He doesn't have a swollen-"

Suddenly Klaus turned and punched Five in the face, Five looking up with anger in his eyes. Pandora quickly stood up and slapped Klaus, going with the flow of where this meeting was taking.

Klaus shouted with excitement, shaking his head like he was trying to get rid of the sting, a large, red, hand shaped mark now developing on his face. "What a rush! thanks baby I needed that."

Pandora smiled devilishly and walked over to Five, cradling his beaten face, "Anything for you, boo." She pulled out the handkerchief in her breast pocket and dabbed away the blood emitting from Five's bottom lip.

As he turned back towards the doctor, Klaus's smile dropped. "I want it. Name, please. Now," He said, leaning over the well polished desk.

"You're both crazy," The doctor stated, pointing a shaky finger at Klaus, then pointing at Pandora.

Klaus laughed, genuinely stating, "You have no idea." His gaze darted down to the glass snow globe placed on the Doctors' desk. Interested, Klaus grabbed the globe and read the the printing on the bottom of the globe out loud. "'Peace on Earth.' That's so sweet." Pandora and Five watched from behind as Klaus reared up his head and smashed the snow globe against it. The snow globe shattered on Klaus's face and all over the floor, wetting the entire front of his body and parts of his hair. Klaus began shaking from the pain, gasping as blood ran down his brow, "God, that hurt!"

Terrified, the doctor grabbed for the phone, dialing a number, "I'm calling security- "

Interrupting him once again, Klaus yanked the landline from the doctors hands.

"What're you doing?!"

The fake crying came back as Klaus put the phone up to his ear, "There's been an assault, in Mr. Big's office, security, now. SCHNELL!" There was both a proud and scared silence between the four, Five impressed and Pandora worried about the gash on Klaus's head. "Now, here's what's gonna happen, Grant," Klaus continued.

"It's... Lance," The doctor tried to correct, though it was obvious nobody else in the room cared.

"In about sixty seconds, two security guards are gonna burst through the door, and they're gonna see a whole lot of blood, and they're gonna wonder, 'What the hell happened?' And we're gonna tell them that you," Klaus fake shuddered, exhaling shakily, "Beat the shit out of us!" His false sobs turned into a smile and he stands back, letting out a laugh.

Pandora stuffed her handkerchief into her pocket and smiled along with Klaus, oddly proud of her fake husband. She then turned back to the Doctor, "Oh you're gonna do great and prison, Chance."

"Lance," The doctor whispered.

"Isn't that right sweetie?" Pandora said, looking up at Klaus as she rested a hand on the small of his back, while her other hand was still on Five's shoulder.

"Oh yeah you're gonna do great, trust me, I've been there. Little piece of chicken like you? Oh, my god, you're gonna get passed around like a...," He swirled his hips around in a circle, making his point with his motions, "You're just- you're gonna do great, that's all I'm saying."

"Jesus you're a monster."

Klaus stood still and spit out a piece of snow globe that found its way into his mouth, "Thank you."

The four gathered around one of the front office desks, patiently waiting as Doctor Lance grabbed a few files to try and find the person to which the prosthetic eyeball belonged to. He opened his mouth to speak but refrained when he saw Klaus sitting less than half a foot away from him, still covered in snow globe remnants.

"Oh, that's strange."

"What?" Five said impatiently.

"Uh, the eye. Hasn't been purchased by a client yet," The doctor said, carefully watching as Klaus jumped over to his side of the desk.

"What? What do you mean?" Klaus questioned, moving behind the doctor to peer over his shoulder at the file.

"Well, uh, our logs say that the eye with that serial number... This can't be right. It hasn't even been manufactured yet." Pandora furrowed her eyebrows and turned to Five, wondering if this had something to do with what Vanya and him were talking about earlier. "Where did you get that eye?"

Five let out a short laugh, shaking his head. He bit the inside of his mouth and averted his gaze as he thought deeply.

"Well this is not good," Five said as Pandora, Klaus, and him walked out of the building.

"I was pretty good, though, right? 'Yeah. what about my consent, bitch?'" Klaus giggled, clearly not amusing Five.

"Here, you'll need this for your forehead." Pandora said, then pulled another handkerchief from her pocket, handing it to klaus. Klaus nodded in thanks and wiped off the blood on his forehead.

"Klaus, it doesn't matter," Five said, defeated.

"What? What? What's the big deal with this eye, anyway?"

"There is someone out there who's going to lose an eye in the next seven days. They're gonna bring about the end of life on this Earth as we know it."

"I'm sorry, the end of the world?" Pandora repeated, Five turning around and nodding his head yes. He began to slowly pace back and forth.

"Yeah, can I get that twenty bucks, like, now, or what?"

Pandora groaned. She loved Klaus but now clearly wasn't the right time or place to bring about payment. With the world ending though in a short matter of days, did payment even matter?

"Your twenty bucks?" Five said, looking as though he was about to blow up on Klaus.

"Yeah, my twenty bucks," Klaus restated.

Five looked at him in disbelief, he couldn't believe what he was hearing right now, "The apocalypse is coming, and all you can think about is getting high?"

"Well, I'm also quite hungry," Klaus rubbed his stomach, "Tummy's a-rumblin." Klaus laughed and made a noise fake rumbling noise, ending it with a wide smile.

Five scoffed and shook his head for what seemed like the seventh time that day, "You're useless. Klaus, you're fucking useless," he said breathlessly, turning away from him and walking away

"Oh come on, you need to lighten up old man," Klaus encouraged. Five sat down on the steps of Meritech Prosthetics, Klaus looking back at him as if he had some sort of epiphany. "Hey, you know, I've just realized why you're so uptight, You must be horny as hell!" Klaus sat down next to his brother on the steps, Pandora following suit, "All that time alone. It's gotta screw with your head, being alone. That's why Pandora's on everyone's ass all time." Klaus made the mistake of looking back over to Pandora, the sight of her glare shooting through him. He tensed up and leaned closer to Five for protection, "I'm sorry he died terribly and horribly at seventeen and you haven't been able the bang since then cause he's dead but that's not my fault!"

"Still, that isn't your information to share, Klaus." Exasperated, Pandora rubbed her face, getting up from her position on the stairs and walking to the end of the plot, near the road. Pandora stuffed her hands into her pockets and looked down and up the road for a cab. When she spotted one, Five had appeared right next to her in a flash. They stood in a comfortable silence for a few seconds while Five waved down the cab that had just turned the corner. As it pulled up, Pandora whispered, "I would've been a good mom, this sucks." She had to laugh at the statement, using her thumb to wipe away a small tear.

"Yeah you would've been," Five looked up at her, noticing a tear that managed to escape her hand. Five looked back to the taxi and opened the door, allowing space for Pandora to get in if she wanted to, "Need a ride?" He asked.

Pandora hummed and looked back at Klaus who was just now attempting to catch up with them. "No, I think I'm gonna get Klaus and I some food," She said, "But thank you."

Five nodded and got into the cab. "Have fun," he said before ordering the driver to start driving.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY, what about my MONEY?!" Klaus shouted, sprinting to the sidewalk out of breath, "I was robbed." He put his hands on his knees and groaned, trying to catch his breath.

Pandora shook her head, a smile plastered on her face, "Don't worry Klaus, I'll give you your money. You want Panda Express?"

"God yes."

"Fucking orange chicken." Klaus mumbled, scarfing down his two entrees of meat, noodles placed in the middle. After Five left them at the prosthetics lab, they had gone back to Pandora's apartment and grabbed more comfortable clothes. Pandora, grabbing a tank top and black joggers and Klaus taking random clothes Pandora had bought him years ago for when he crashed at her place, not to mention a sweater that pandora had knitted some time ago with a top pink stripe, a yellow stripe around the middle, and a blue stripe on the bottom. Pandora put some black pepper chicken in her mouth before pointing to two miscellaneous egg rolls on the table.

"I don't remember ordering those," She said after swallowing.

Klaus looked up from his plate and nodded. "I snuck those for Ben," he spoke, picking pieces of food out of his teeth with a toothpick. "Yeah, I figured you could like, do your little transport thing and give it to him. Didn't want him to feel left out," He turned his head to the empty table beside them, "Isn't that right Ben?" He stuck his tongue out into the air, gaining a few odd looks from a passerby.

Pandora laughed, her hand flying up to cover her food filled mouth. "Sorry baby, I can't give them to you till we get home," Pandora said, looking at her food so she didn't look like a dork while talking to an empty space.

"Oh!" Klaus exclaimed suddenly.

"What?"

"Your exhibit! How'd that go, did you open it yet?" Klaus asked with curiosity, he's always loved her art exhibits both high and sober. Something about them was otherworldly and personal, yet, up for interpretation.

Pandora nodded, "Yeah, yeah we opened it two days ago and it isn't doing too bad. But I haven't been able to go back and check in it because I've been on leave for the funeral, but what I heard particularly today it's doing pretty well."

"What's it about?"

"5 stages of grief," she said plainly, sipping on her drink.

Klaus slurped a noddle with a loud smack, getting the the light amount of sauce on the table. "What're those again?"

Pandora held up a finger, grabbed both hers and Klaus's empty drinks and filling them up again at the soda machine. She came back to the table with a lemonade and a coke, taking a quick sip of Klaus's before giving it to him, he protested her actions but accepted it nevertheless. "Okay," Pandora started before putting her hair up into a small ponytail, strands of her hair falling in front of her face. "The five stages of grief, in order, are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But at the same time I don't think you can go through it like that, not in order.

Sure, denial is first, everyone goes through it, but I think you float between some, at the same time. I think anger and bargaining go hand in hand because you get mad when your bargaining doesn't work or... In our case, we skip past it because we can see the dead when we want. And I think that's what I wanted to portray in the exhibit, you know?"

Klaus got a little lost in the message but nodded adding, "Yeah I don't think I ever, truly went through uh, what was the fourth stage?"

"Depression."

"Right, that. I mean, sure, I cried... A lot, but not as much as the others. It never really clicked for me."

"Because you see Ben when you want," Pandora added on.

"Yeah, yeah! Okay I get it now, that's a good topic," Klaus said before eating his last two pieces of orange chicken. He grabbed a fortune cookie and ripped it open. He made an odd noise, raising his eyebrows in surprise. Pandora grabbed hers and cracked the cookie open, she placed the two sides on the table and opened her mouth to read it but Klaus reached over and covered her mouth. "Don't say it or won't come true!" She licked his hand and he retracted it in fake disgust, wiping his hand on his sweater.

"Fine, what's yours say?"

Klaus scoffed, "I can't tell you that, it won't come true! Come on, Pandora. Keep up," Klaus said, clapping his hands at the last few words to make his point.

"Klaus," She said, shaking her head with a smile and pocketing the little strip of paper.


	4. // chapter three : extra ordinary //

2002

"But I don't want to hurt him, he's my friend," Pandora protested, looking at the blonde ahead of her. She had been practicing this particular technique for a week now and it grew more and more evident that she didn't have the soul hold down quite yet, which made her nervous. Of course, she had to practice her powers on people, and Luther was the only one that Reginald wanted to go against her.

"You won't hurt him if you do it correctly," Reginald responded, closing his book in his hands. "Number One!"

Luther, who had been standing by Reginald for the past ten minutes, bolted towards her, gaining speed quickly. Pandoras heart leapt into her throat, freezing for just a moment before instinct kicked it, she held out her hands, concentrating on Luther, squeezing her eyes shut as the sound of his feet hitting the hardwood floor getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, the sound stopped, as she opened her eyes, she saw Luther stuck, suspended inches away from Pandora. Blue energy surged and pulsed around his body, the only thing moving were his eyes. Pandora dropped Luther, who instantly crashed into the ground with a slight groan.

"Progress is essential, yet you still hesitate. Again!" Reginald opened his book again, writing a few words down.

As Luther walked back, Pandora quickly swiped her fingers underneath her eyes, a dark red liquid on her finger tips staring back at her. She wiped her hand on her blazer, looking back up again to continue her training.

2014

Pandora walked among the streets in the way back from work, her heels clicking on the ground as she paced. She occasionally walked to and from work, the museum being close enough in walking distance.

A few small shops dotted along the way, including a small restaurant and bookstore. Pandora occasionally went into the cozy shop to find a new book for Ben to read, but she was in such a rush in the morning that she didn't even get to see that was sitting in the window sill.

As she opened the door to the bookstore, a bell chimed, indicating that a new customer had come in through the door. Warm rushed Pandora's face and the familiar smell of books met her nose.

"Evening Pandora," The cashier greeted

"Evening, did that new book come in?" Pandora asked, adjusting her purse on her shoulder.

"Oh yeah, I've got a couple for him. Stephen King actually just came out with a book that I feel like would be right up your boyfriends alley," The cashier pulled three books from behind the counter, setting them up on the register. "Did you see the new Umbrella Academy book in the window?"

"No, I didn't. Who wrote it?" Pandora's asked while fetching her wallet from her bag.

"Vanya Hargreeves-"

"Vanya wrote it?"

"Yeah apparently there were more kids, she wrote all about about what it was like to live there, pretty messed up. I haven't been able to put it down. You want a copy?"

"Please," Pandora responded, her heart now pounding against her rib cage. The employee went over to the window and grabbed a copy of the book and set it down with the rest of the books then told her the total of all the books. Pandora gave him the money, then hurried out the door with her books.

Soon enough, she was at the front door of her house, as soon as she opened it she called for Marin.

"God, what? I'm just in the next room you don't have to yell," Marin responded, obviously annoyed that Pandora had interrupted her piano playing.

"Vanya wrote a book about the academy."

"She did? I don't know about that, she would have told me if she was writing a book about it," Marin shook her head as she turned back towards her piano.

"No, look," Pandora argued, then grabbed the book out of her bag and set it on the piano.

Marin grabbed the book, flipping through some of the pages, stopping for a few moments to read a paragraph occasionally. "No, she couldn't have. Oh my god, this all like, exposing the family kind of shit. Like, I already knew that she hated her family and the academy but this is next level shit."

"Read a paragraph," Pandora said.

"I mean like, are you sure?" Marin asked, "Cause this page mentions you, Ben and even me."

"Just read it," Pandora shook grew antsy with anger and sadness in her eyes, "Please."

"Fine, but don't get mad at me." Marin cleared her throat, "'I quickly became friends with the two girls that lived next door, one of them even became my best friend because she was ordinary like me. Her twin sister had powers, like my siblings, and took Five's place in the Umbrella Academy shortly after he disappeared. The same twin grew close to Ben and as we got older, if you looked close enough, you could tell that there was foundation on Ben's neck.'"

Pandora stood there for a moment, trying to process what Vanya had just wrote about the both of them.

"Pandora-."

"I'm fine, I'm fine Marin," Pandora interrupted.

"No you're not, you can't be okay after that."

"I just, I can't believe she wrote that. I mean like, we were kids and that just what kids do and now everyone knows that," Pandora shook her head, hot tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm going to talk to Ben, this is bullshit."

"If you need to, come talk to me. I'll contact your therapist and set up an appointment with her for you," Marin said, standing up from her piano bench and handing the book back to Pandora. "But if you, talk to me, alright?" Pandora just nodded in response. "C'mere," She pulled Pandora into a hug.

...

Present Day

Pandora waited patiently outside the dumpster in the alleyway by the Umbrella Academy, looking up and down it to make sure no one was coming their way. She shoved one hand in her pocket while the other took fabric from her collar to cover up her nose. "Klaus you better hurry up, I can't take the smell of it anymore," the clothing muffling her voice.

"Hold on, hold on, I've almost got them. Damn it, where's Dad's stuff?" Klaus stood in the dumpster, tossing out various trash bags out, then stopped and looked back up at the fire escape. "Shut up Ben! I'm trying to find whatever priceless crap was in that priceless box so that Pogo will get off my ass!"

Pandora sighed and looked up at the fire escape, seeing that Five had now crawled out of his bedroom window and was now descending down the fire escape, which now had some wear from it.

"Good Morning Five," She called, dropping the fabric from her face.

"Morning," Five said, shifting the large backpack on his shoulders as he climbed down. "I'd ask what you're up to Klaus, but then it occured to me, I don't care."

"Hey, you know there's easier ways out of the house, buddy," Klaus commented, turning back to Five on the fire escape.

"This one involved the least amount of talking," Five shrugged, dropping down to the ground, "Or so I thought."

"Hey, hey, hey, so you need anymore company today?" Klaus asked, rushing to the side of the dumpster, "I could uh... clear my schedule."

"Looks like you've got your hands full."

"Oh this? No, no. I can do this whenever. I'm just-," Klaus slipped, falling back into the garbage, "I just misplaced something, that's all."

"Are you sure you're going to be safe Five? Because I can go with you if you need me to." Pandora suggested, turning back to him.  
"I'm fine Pandora, thank you."

"Oh, found it! Thank God!" Klaus emerged from the dumpster, holding a half eaten bagel. He took a reluctant bite out of it, nodding. "Delicious, want a bite Pan?"

"No thanks, I ate breakfast." Pandora shot down the offer, a look of disgust appearing on her face.

"I'm done funding your drug habit," Five shook his head then turned and started down the alley way towards a van that was parked at the end of it.

"Oh come on! I'm done with that stuff I swear, Pan sent me to rehab enough!" Klaus called the alley way. "What if I just wanna hang out with my brother- not you- Mi Hermano! I love you!" Five ignored his yells and continued walking to the van, "Even you can't love yourself!" He spit out the bagel as Five entered into the van and started to drive away. Klaus turned, his eyes squeezed shut, his hands clamping over his ears "Jesus I can't take this any more, Pandora can you please take Ben, he's judging my life choices again. Go make out or whatever, just anywhere that's not around me."

"Yeah, just don't run off anywhere. C'mon Ben," She said, then started walking back down the alleyway.

As she walked, she could almost feel Ben's soul following her, another advantage of her powers. Soul Link was one of the many things that Pandora could do and having her soul linked to Ben's made things easier since he passed.

Pandora rounded the corner, approaching the entry of the academy. She pulled open the doors, allowing herself inside inside before closing the door yet again.

"Pandora, have you seen Klaus at all this morning?" Pandora turned to see who had been speaking, meeting Luther in the doorway of the living room.

"Yes I have, why?" Pandora asked, her eyebrows creasing together, not entirely sure why Luther would be looking for Klaus.

"There's something wrong with Grace, Allison and I are not entirely sure what's wrong with her. We're having a family meeting to discuss what to do with her," Luther explained

"Well, if anything it sounds more like an academy meeting. I mean, she took care of Marin and I as much as she did with you and Allison," Pandora stated, crossing her arms across her chest.

Luther nodded in response, "You may be right." Luther stopped short of what he was about to say next, his head looked down and he fidgeted with his glove. He glanced up at Pandora and took a deep breath before continuing, "I wanted to apologize for Ben's statue, it was inappropriate for Diego and I to fight, and it shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry."

Pandora stood there, a little taken back that Luther actually apologized. He hadn't done that in a long time. "Thank you Luther." Pandora nodded "Let's go find Klaus."

...

Pandora carefully approached the van parked out of Meritech Prosthetics, one hand holding a carton with two coffee's in it while the other softly knocked against the window. Inside sat Five in the driver's seat, staring out in front of him.

"Five?" she called, no response. "Five!" She opened up the passenger door, sitting in the seat while Luther and Klaus climbed in through another door.

"You shouldn't be... How did you find me?" Five asked, snapping back into reality as Pandora put one coffee in a cup holder. Luther nodded back to Klaus, who was holding the top half of a mannequin in the back.

"Hey Baby- Hey a little privacy guys, we're really hitting it off back here," Klaus said.

Five chucked an empty cup at Klaus, causing him to drop the mannequin. "Get out! You can't be here! I'm in the middle of something!"

"Any luck finding your one eyed man?" Klaus asked, pushing himself to the front.

"No."

"What is he talking about?" Luther asked.

"Does it matter? It's Klaus," Five brushed off, "What do you guys want?"

"So, Grace might have had to do something with Dad's death," Luther responded "So I need you to come back to the academy, alright? It's important."

"Hold on, you just told me that there was something wrong with her," Pandora spoke up.

"'It's important.' You have no concept of what's important?" Five sneered.

"Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the time that I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding? It was so painful," Klaus laughed

"What are you still doing here?" Luther asked.

"Klaus, go take a walk outside please," Pandora said.

"What? I need an excuse to hang out with my family now?" Klaus asked, placing a hand on his chest.

"We're trying to have a serious discussion," Luther responded, gesturing to Pandora and Five.

"What, and I'm not capable of being serious? Is that what you're saying?"

"Luther's got a point, get out," Five urged.

"What?"

"Klaus, please," Pandora asked for the final time. Klaus sighed in defeat, then squeezed past Luther and left through the side door.

"What the hell are you up to?" Luther asked once Klaus had left the van.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me. Last time I checked, I'm still leader of the family."

"Well, last time I checked I'm 28 years older than you."

"You know what's your problem?"

"Really hoping you would tell me."

"You think you're better than us. Always have, ever since we were kids. But the truth is, you're just as messed up as the rest of us. We're all you have, and you know it."

"I don't think I'm better than you, Number One. I know I'm better than you. I've done unimaginable things that you can't even comprehend."

"Right."

"Just to get back and save you all."

Pandora rolled her eyes, "Guys, all this stupid bickering is pointless." Pandora stopped both of them, "You're brothers, work with each other dammit." In that moment, klaus sprinted across the street, his arms full of various snacks.

"Hey Bitches!" He yelled, a security guard following close behind him, nearly getting run over.

"Now I'm starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision," Five said, then sighed.

...

A small, squat tv sat on the bar of the living room, playing the clip of Reginald dying over and over again. The clip mostly consisted of Reginald carrying heart attack-like symptoms after Grace had given him something unseen by the camera, she then left the room. Pandora stood near the back, leaning her shoulder against a column.

"I mean, do you really think Mom would hurt Dad like that?" Vanya asked with her arms folded across her chest, watching the clip play over and over again.

"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya. Maybe you don't really know Grace anymore," Luther suggested.

"If he was poisoned, it would have showed up in the coroner's report," Diego shook his head.

"Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes," Luther replied aggressively.

"Maybe all the low gravity messed with your vision," Diego said, moving closer to the tv, clicking a button, "Look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle's gone."

"Oh yeah!" Klaus said.

"She wasn't poisoning him, She took the monocle... to clean it," Diego concluded, stepping away from the TV.

"Then where is it?" Luther asked, "No, I searched through the house, including her things. She doesn't have it."

Pandora glanced towards Diego, who was avoiding all eye contact.

"Because...," Diego started, flipping a knife up and down in the air, "I took it from her. After the funeral," He looked back up at his family.

"What the hell Diego?" Allison said.

"Give it to me," Luther commanded, holding out his hand

"I threw it away," Diego said.

"You did what?"

"Look, I knew that that if you found it on mom, you would lose your shit," Diego defended himself, standing up from the couch, "Just like what you're doing right now."

"Diego, you son of a bitch-"

"Hey, No. Calm down," Vanya spoke up, successfully causing the two brothers to stop. "Look, I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said, Mom was designed to be a caretaker, but also a protector."  
"What does that mean?" Allison asked.

"She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy," Vanya explained further.

"Well, if her software is degrading, then we need to turn her off," Luther came to a conclusion.

"Woah, woah, woah, waoh, wait. She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can just throw in the closet. She feels things, I've seen it!" Diego stated, anger seeping into his voice.

"She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die!"

"I'm with Luther," Allison said.

"Surprise, Surprise," Diego responded sarcastically.

"Shut up."

They all looked towards Vanya for her vote, "I-I don't-."

"Yeah she shouldn't get a vote," Diego turned to someone else in the group.

"I was going to say that I agree with you Diego," Vanya finished.

"Okay, she does get a vote," Diego said, then turned towards Klaus, "What about you Stoner boy? What do you got?"

"Oh, so what? You need my help now?" Klaus asked, "Oh 'Get out of the van Klaus,' 'Well, welcome back to the van Klaus.'"

"What van?" Allison asked.

"What will it be Klaus?" Luther scoffed.

"I'm with Diego, cause screw you!" Klaus said, "And if Ben were here, he would agree with me," Pandora's heart sank at the mention of Ben.

"Pandora?" Diego asked.

"Pandora doesn't-" Luther started.

"Stop, let me talk," Pandora interrupted, "I'm with Diego, I mean, we're talking about the woman that baked us cookies after training."

"So that's what? Four?" Luther asked.

"To two," Diego held up the correct amount of fingers

"My vote isn't final," Allison spoke up "Five isn't here. The whole family has to vote. We owe that to each other."

"Right," Luther nodded

"No, we should wait," Vanya said, with that final thought, everyone besides Vanya and Diego stood in the room. Pandora turned her head to see Grace standing in one of the doorways. Pandora turned her gaze and left the room.

...

"I can't help but agree with what you said yesterday," Ben said, interrupting the moment of silence that they had been having. After the talk about Grace, everyone split their own different way in the house, Pandora found herself talking to Ben in his room, lying next to him in his bed as they enjoyed a moment together.

"What, what I was saying about the exhibit?" Pandora questioned, sitting up slightly from where they had been lying down.

"Well, I do love your exhibit but, that's not what I meant. I just want to agree that, yeah you would have been a good mom," Ben stated sitting up as well, resurfacing what Pandora had said the previous day.

"You would have been a good dad as well, love," Pandora smiled, grabbing his hand.

"I'd just want to be better than what Reignald was.... I actually have given a lot of thought to this the past day, Arien is a name I've really liked that I came up with," Ben said, "Right next to William."

"Really?" Pandora laughed, "I always thought you would have liked Oscar!"

"I do actually, I just like Arien more," Pandora playfully punched Ben's shoulder, his face falling into a wondrous look, "Do you think they would have come and visited us? If we ever had kids and moved away, had our own lives?" Ben asked.

"Well, there's no doubt that Klaus and Marin would, they doesn't leave us alone as it is but I think we would want Klaus to be clean before he met our kids. Diego wouldn't admit it but he would want to. Allison would want to visit, but she's just so busy all the time. Five, is tough to tell but I think he would, the same is to say with Vanya. I don't think Luther would, he doesn't like me as it is," Pandora listed the siblings off on her fingers.

"Kids. With an s, as in plural version of the word kid."

"Well, I'm not talking about baby goats," Pandora laughed, cupping his face with her hands, "Ben, you are the love and light of my life, I couldn't imagine anyone else I would have been married to, have children with."

She leaned in, letting go of his face as the space between them disappeared in a kiss.

They were lost in the moment, the house silent for once. It felt like it was just the two of them again, alone, how it should've been. Suddenly, Pandora removes herself from Ben and hurriedly sat up. "Oh my god, Marin and I were having dinner tonight!" Pandora swung her feet over the bed, walking over to her body that was lying next to the door.

"I thought that was tomorrow night?" Ben questioned, standing up from the bed

"I thought it was too, but I promised her this morning that I would have dinner with her tonight, in celebration of her new tour. Oh god ben, I'm so sorry I have to go." She quickly kissed him, then entered into her body.

Her stuff joints popping, she opened the door and went back into the hallway. Pandora suddenly stopped in the middle, seeing the backs of two strangers in the hallway. Both of them were wearing suits, holding semi automatic guns, masks covering their heads. Pandora quickly and quietly dashed behind an open door, though according to the clicking of the guns, it wasn't quiet enough.

Wood splintered as the gunmen decorated the hallway with bullet holes, inches from where she was standing previously. Pandora let out a small gasp as a hand pulled her out from her position, luckily it was just Diego. He pulled her into another hallway before he himself threw two knives at intruders.

Pandora nodded in thanks as she stood up from the floor, taking cover against the wall as they shot out. As the bigger gunman came around the corner, Diego attacked him, blocking punches while trying to deal his own. Pandora saw that the other gunman was crouched on the ground near another bedroom shooting at Diego.

"Cha Cha, shoot him!" The bigger one shouted.

"I'm trying, move dumb ass!" The shorter gunman, apparently named Cha Cha, responded.

Pandora sprinted towards Cha Cha holding out her hands and making fists, anchoring their soul to the ground so they couldn't move. As she struggled to get up, Pandora kicked them in the chest, knocking them down to the floor yet again. But before Pandora could do anything else, Cha Cha swept her feet around, knocking Pandora to her back. Pandora's eyes widened as she got a good look at Cha Cha, the pink rabbit mask, staring down at her with an overall creepy intensity accompanied by a gun. As Pandora watched Cha Cha rear up her weapon, she quickly projected her soul out of her body, watching as the butt of the gun hit her lifeless body.

"That's definitely going to leave a bruise," Pandora sighed.

Cha Cha stepped over Pandora's body following her partner in chasing down Diego. Unfortunately for them, Pandora reached her hands out into the air once more, gaining control of their souls. She flung her arms back, causing the gunman's bodies to slide across the polished wooden floor, diminishing their progress.

"What the hell was that?!" The bigger gunman exclaimed.

"Oh my god, where's Klaus?" Pandora asked herself, looking frantically around her, "KLAUS!" She screamed bolting down the hallway and up a stairwell in search of him, "KLAUS!"

She eventually came across Ben, who must have been looking for him too, "Have you seen him? Did you see the people that came into the house?" he asked, grabbing her shoulders to center her focus.

"Yes I did and for all they know, I'm unconscious," Pandora responded, somehow feeling slightly out of breath, "But we need to find Klaus before they hurt him."

Ben nodded and they continued running, down several hallways and stairwells looking for Klaus. They eventually found him in his room, dancing away to some music that was playing in his headphones, a towel wrapped around his body and around his hair as well.

"Klaus, there's people inside the house and they're tearing everything up, we need to go!" Pandora called, but Klaus continued dancing. Ben tried his hand in shouting his name while Pandora waved her hand several times in front of his face, yet there was no reaction.

"There's no use, he's high. He can't see or hear us," Ben shook his head, crossing his arms across his chest. Pandora moved to Ben, holding onto his arms. He looked back at her with worry on his face.

"Stay with him, please, no matter what."

"I will, don't worry," Ben responded, their heads whipping towards the sound of more gunshots.

"I have to go and see if everyone else is safe, I love you," Pandora said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before running out of the room.

She found one of the gunmen fighting hand to hand with Luther in the main area of the house, Luther struggling tremendously to keep up and defend himself from the gunman. Pandora ran up to the gunman, pressing her hands against his back, holding onto his soul once again. The gunman started to scream out in pain, blue glowing circles appearing where Pandora had placed her hands. Luther looked at the man's glowing abdomen in awe watching as he was flown back into the living room.

Allison and Diego rushed in, helping Luther up off the ground. "Ah, you gotta cut down on the fast food, soldier," Diego commented, helping him to walk.

Electricity started to crackle above their heads Luther looking up at the chandelier, "Get out of the way!" Luther shouted, shoving Diego and Allison out of the way before the chandelier came down on top of him.

The chandelier crackled as Luther slowly started to lift it off of him, his coat and shirt starting to tear from the chandelier attached to it. As it all came off, it became apparent why Luther had hidden it all away. Massive amounts of hair stuck out of his skin, he almost looked beast-like.

"Holy shit," Diego spoke.

Upon seeing that his family really knew what happened, he quickly fled the room, up the stairs and out of sight.

Pandora quickly left the scene, walking back to her body and setting herself back in. Even before she opened her eyes her head pounded, groaning as she sat up. She got back to her feet, holding onto the walls as she walked back to the upper level of the house.


	5. // chapter four : man on the moon //

2005

Eleven o'clock wasn't an ideal time for a mission, especially when you just started going to a normal high school after ten years and the start time is exponentially different than that of homeschool. Luckily, Pandora didn't have to deal with the rest of the team tonight, only Ben.

The mission called was a possible robbery at a nearby museum and from the view of a pitch black alley across the street, Ben and Pandora could confirm the description. From what they could see, there were two blacked out vans parked out back, a Guy manned without a visible weapon by each. The back museum staff door was open, light bleeding out into the dark night, clearly they weren't trying to be very eluding.

"I should go in first, try and get these guys locked down before they can alert anyone else," Pandora whispered, stating rather than suggesting. Ben nodded and watched as Pandora jogged across the street and ducked down behind crate. Once she was able to see both men, she brought her hands up, a glow emitting from her fists, and quickly brought them back down, their weapons clattering in the ground and their feet grounded. Keeping one fist down facing the ground, she beckoned Ben to come over towards her.

Ben jogged over and walked past Pandora, saying, "Keep them still, I'm going to find a rope to tie them up with," before rummaging through one of the vans. Pandora grew impatient with the rummaging and quietly walked over to the opened back door, peeping her head in to grab a quick look, "Dude, did you find anything yet?"

"Yeah, just hold on," Ben jumped out of the van with a bundle of ropes underneath his arm. In no time, Ben had tied the burglars down, tossing them back into the van.

Pandora nodded towards the open door next to the van, Ben nodded in response as they started inching closer to the open doorway. As they peered in, they could see six other gun men, carting stolen valuable objects from the museum.

Pandora signaled at Ben, telling him at on the count of three they would go in and take care of the problem.

She held up three fingers up, two, then finally one.

Before the criminals could even register that they were there, Pandora and Ben tore into the room. Pandora, using her powers, threw two men into the wall, knocking them out instantly. Tentacles ripped out of Ben's chest, grappling four more of the men in the process, dropping whatever weapons and valuables they had on them.

As Pandora flung each person into the hallway, red started creeping up her mask, she blinked a couple of times in attempt to make it go away, but in no time it had blocked off her entire vision. Pandora squeezed her eyes shut, motioning back to grab Ben, "I can't see anything, my mask has filled up."

"Shit," Ben cursed, then the snarling and growling of the beast silenced, Ben got grabbed her hand and started to direct her. "Be careful, there's kind of bodies everywhere." He pulled her off into another room, opening a door and closing it yet again as he let them both inside. "I'm going to take off your mask, there's no one around," He told her before he gently pulled off the mask that was on her face, the blood dripping onto the floor and down the front of her face.

As she opened her eyes, the red as still overwhelming her vision. The deep red of her blood took place of the bags under her eyes, smearing when she hastily tried to wiped them off. "Wait, stop moving," Ben said as he grabbed a paper towel and wet it with the tap water. He gently grabbed Pandora's face and wiped to blood out from under her eyes, leaving the dried blood alone. Ben then took her mask and washed out a majority of the blood, the pristine white sink staining with red.

"God, I could of had any side effect from this stupid power and I managed to get blood coming from my eyes," Pandora growled, working away more blood from her face.

"It throw people off at least," Ben trying to make the situation a bit better, drying off the insides of her mask before placing it back on her face, "There, are you seeing any better?"

"I can see, yeah," Pandora stated, blinking her eyes a couple of times as she pressed the mask on securely to her face.

"Alright, it's best to get back to the team now, they'll be looking for us."

===

Present

Allison had let Pandora stay over for the night, not wanting to send her home alone with an obvious concussion. It wasn't long before she woke Pandora up saying there was something important that she needed to see before leaving to go wake up Luther.

Grace had died.

It didn't feel right to call her Mom, when she was at the academy consistently it made sense. Despite being a robot, Grace was her second mother, but now, after being gone all these years, Pandora only referred to her as Grace.

Nevertheless, seeing Grace lifeless didn't hurt any less than her own mother's death.

Allison and Pandora stood around the lifeless android, Luther kneeling down in front of her. Grace was sitting, her left forearm sliced open to reveal the intricate workings of her silicone body, wires sticking out in all the wrong places. Her head, slumped to the side with her eyes opening down.

"The two guys last night, the ones with the masks... They did this to her," Allison presumed, "It has to do with Five somehow, they were looking for him."

Pandora wondered if the blood she saw on Five's collar a few days back had anything to do with this. Still, Pandora had nothing to say pertaining to the situation that was in front of her.

Luther chimes in, changing the subject slightly, "I know I was arguing to turn Grace off, but it doesn't make seeing her like this any easier."

"How are we going to tell Diego," Pandora said, keeping her position on the banister while Allison went to comfort Luther. "This is going to be really hard on him, Grace was his rock," she continued.

"Yeah It's hard on all of us," Luther said, annoyance evident in his voice.

When he began to walk off, Allison called his name, causing him to stop, "Are you okay? You know you can talk to me," she asked.

Luther was quick to interrupt, "I don't want to discuss it." Feeling slightly awkward about the situation, Pandora slipped away silently while Allison and Luther argued in harsh whispers.

Pandora ducked her head down, heading down the opposite hallway; Luther and Allison's business were none of hers and she would like to keep it that way.

The sound of her socks padding against the old wooden floor filled the hallway that once housed the kids, she could almost hear the echoing of the footsteps of running children from years ago. All the doors were open and for the most part were still untouched, even Allison and Luther's rooms. Pandora went into Ben's room and quickly changed into the clothes she wore yesterday. She folded the pajamas Allison had given her before the woman herself knocked on the door. Pandora set her purse and the pajamas on the bed spread and told her to come in.

"How're you doing?" Allison asked, leaning against the door frame.

Pandora shrugged, "Not great, Grace is dead, I don't know where Klaus is and I can't feel Ben." A slight feeling of dizziness flowed over her body, prompting her to grab her head and sit down on the twin bed. "And um, there's also my tiny head injury. Processing all these emotions makes it hurt.," Pandora joked, worrying Allison rather than amusing her.

The room fell in an awkward silence before Pandora murmured, "I used to spend a lot of time in here, hiding out from Reginald with Ben. Messing around, being kids, you know?"

"Did he ever catch you guys?" Allison asked, a small smile on her face. She really seemed to enjoy when Pandora told stories of her and Ben.

"Eighty percent of the time yeah," Pandora laughed, "Sometimes Vanya would join and hang out with us and Marin."

"Speaking of Vanya," Allison began, "I was about to go check on her, would you want to come with me?"

Pandora looked up at her and shook her head, "No I uh, I think I'm going to, um, I think I'm going to go home and lie down," she lied, in reality she was going to go searching for Ben and Klaus.

"Well if you need anything, just tell me," Allison said, passing the door again. A few minutes later, Pandora was fully dressed and ready to go out.

She spotted the sleepwear still lying on the navy blue comforter of Ben's bed, realizing she forgot to give the clothes back to Allison, Pandora cursed and picked up the pink fabric. She walked into Allison's room and saw all the photoshoots the academy had taken and multiple from her solo acting shoots. She placed the folded pajamas on her bed and left, coming face to face with Luther and Diego who were, as always, bickering.

"What were you doing in Allison's room?" Luther asked, causing Diego to sigh and roll his eyes.

"I don't need to explain myself to you," She said, before pushing past the two of them and walking back to Ben's room to grab the rest of her things.

Diego blocked her at the door way and held his hands out, "What this asshole meant to ask was, have you seen Five?"

"No I haven't, was he not here last night?" She questioned.

"We don't know but he isn't here now," Diego rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance with the entire situation.

"He's probably in his van, I'll come with you guys," Pandora said, signaling Diego to move, "And you'll need to drive, I may or may not have a concussion."

—-

"This is it. He's still here. This is Five's van," Luther stated, walking quickly towards the dumpy old plumbing truck that Five had been staking out in previously, "Go. Go." Pandora split from the two men, going to drivers side door rather than the passengers side. Unlike Luther, she first peered through the window, seeing nothing in the van other than random bits of junk Five had collected from his time back in the present. Carefully, she tried opening the door, however, it didn't budge.

Pandora walked over to see Diego skillfully picking the lock and opening the door. Luther and Diego tried to go in at the same time and ended bumping into one another. They looked at each other in anger before Luther said, "I'm one," as if it still meant something now that they were all adults. Diego let him go ahead, waiting for him to get stuck in the frame of the car. Luther struggles, eventually opening the large side door for Diego and Pandora.

For about a minute or two, they searched through books and papers to find any clue as to where he might be. Diego had picked up an old copy of Vanya's book and flipped through the pages. Pandora peeked up in the corner of her eye and saw dozens of handwriting in the margins of the book, most of it was a mix of integers and variables written in blue ink. Diego whistled, alerting Luther and the rest of Pandora's attention. He flipped the book out like a kindergarten teacher reading a picture book to their students would, "I know where to find Five."

On the inside cover, right below the title, was a stamp that read:

This Book is Property Of

The Public Library

Argyle Street Branch.

\----

For some reason, it took hours to find the right Library. It had gotten to the point where they had to stop on the side of the road and ask for directions (poor guy thought he was about to get jumped with a large ape of a man flagging him down).

Though the building on the outside was rectangular, it felt like they were walking into a giant cylinder, reminding Pandora of a larger scale Library of Congress in style. "Let's split up," Luther said in his annoying authoritative voice.

"Wow. Good thinking," Pandora said sarcastically before they split up throughout the library. They searched every inch of the first three floors, finding nothing but the dusty books on the shelf. A few, Pandora mentally cataloged to grab for Ben to read later on.... When she can find him again. Alas, she found no sign of Five.

"Anything?" Luther asked Diego and Pandora, who were currently resting on the clear fence between the large brick pillars, the pair facing opposite directions.

Pandora shook her head, Diego audibly said, "No." Luther moved away, going to search more for Five, but Diego stopped him, continuing to speak, "You wanna know why I left."

"Here we go again," Pandora muttered to herself, pushing off the glass and making her way to the aisles of books she searched through before in an attempt to avoid conflict. Pandora, ran her hands along the spines of the books until she came across one particular book, "The Bet," with the authors name, Anton Chekhov, printed right below the title. Ben had a copy of this when they were young, he read it countless times until the spine nearly fell apart and the pages turned yellow, never seeming to tire of the short story. There would be times when they were young that he snuck into the Green's household at night, snuggle up against Pandora, and read. Sometimes Pandora would look up at the pages, reading little bits and pieces of the book until Ben turned to the next page, she could distinctly remember small pencil marks and notes in the margins that only really made sense to Ben. She still had the book, it was in a box at the top of her closet along with other trinkets Ben had grown accustomed to.

Pandora carefully put the small book back into the shelf and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. A few chattering voices drew her attention to the left. A group of ladies were huddled around, from what she could see, a kid with a bottle at his side.

She walked back over to Diego and Luther, nudging Diego in his side till she grabbed his attention. "Guys, I think I found him," He snapped out of his aggressive state and peered over Luther's broad shoulder, now looking at the person they had been searching for since that morning-- Five.

The two walked over before Luther eventually followed, the ladies scattering once they all got closer. Five was fast asleep in the corner, his arm around a body of a mannequin, and a variety of pens and pencils scattered in front of him, "Is he, um....?"

"Drunk as a skunk," Diego smiled.

\---

"Well, we can't go back to the house. It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment." The trio were now walking down an alleyway, trying to keep out of sight for as long as possible. Five was in Luther's arms, snuggled up with a mannequin, while Pandora and Diego walked freely in front of them.

"My place is closer. No one will look for him there," Diego mentioned, occurring to Pandora that she had never seen his apartment before.

Five burped and made a high pitch noise, scaring Luther enough for him to say, "If you vomit on me..."

The supposed 58 year old ignored his brothers' threat and began to ramble, "You know what's funny? Ah! I'm going through puberty... Huh. Twice. And I... I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye. Poof! It's gone." First Klaus mentioned a supposed end of times and now Five; what wasn't he telling them? Five looked around at all three of them before continuing, "What're you guys talking about?"

Luther sighs, "Two masked intruders attacked the Academy last night."

"They came looking for you! So I need you to focus. What do they want?" Diego pressed.

"Hazel and Cha-Cha," Five slurred.

"Wait, you knew those lunatics?" Pandora questioned.

"You know I hate codenames," Luther added on, fed up with his drunken brother.

"Ah, the best of the best. Except for me, of course," Five said ever so vaguely.

"Best of what?"

Once again, Five strayed off topic, "You know, Delores always said she hated when I drink. She said it made me surly--"

"Hey!" Diego interrupted. Five hummed in acknowledgement. "I need you to focus, What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?"

They had all stopped walking, deciding questioning Five moving wasn't the best way of interrogation. Five smiled but didn't say anything, he brought his mannequin closer to his chest.

"We just want to protect you, that's what we do when we have each other's backs," Pandora assured.

"'Protect me,' I don't need your protection, Pandora... Do you have any idea how many people I've killed? No. I'm the four fricken horseman. The apocalypse is coming," Before they could question him any further, Five turned his head away and vomited behind Luther.

\---

After about seven minutes of more walking, they had arrived at Diego's apartment. Except it wasn't an apartment, it was gym. Luther had to explain that Diego cleans the floors in exchange for the back room. Pandora nearly felt sympathetic before she saw where he lived, sure, it was a boiler room, but he had made it homey.

Luther dumped Five on Diego's bed, tucked away in the corner of the room. Pandora stood besides Luther and looked at Five while Diego had put the mannequin on one of his few chairs. He joined beside them a short while later. "Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep," Diego said.

"Well, don't worry. He'll sober up eventually, be back to his normal, unpleasant self," Luther commented.

"Yeah, I can't wait that long," Diego said, they continued talking but Pandora tuned them out as soon as she saw the blanket she had knitted Diego a little more than a decade ago. It was a thick dark green blanket with a small, white "D.H." embroidered in corner. Pandora took off Five's shoes, set them on the ground and draped the blanket over his small frame, tucking some of the blanket underneath him to keep him warm.

"All that stuff he was saying before... What do you think he meant by that?" Luther said, his voice a bit lower than before, it was hard to say whether it was in fear or if it was because there were fast footsteps approaching Diego's door. Diego took out one of his knives and quietly walked up his steps, signaling to Luther and Pandora to keep out of sight from the door.

Diego quickly cracked open the door and got ready to throw a knife before an old voice retaliated. "You throw, another one of those goddamn knives at me, I'm pressing charges!"

"What do you want Al?" Diego sighed.

"I ain't your secretary," A gruff old man appeared in the doorway, Pandora assumed that he was the owner of the gym.

"Yeah," Diego muttered.

"Some lady called for you, said she needs your help."

"What lady?"

"I dunno. Some, uh, detective. I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or somethin.'"

"Patch?" Diego almost had a smile on his face, he said something under his breath that none of the others could hear before rushing to the top of the stairs.

"She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun," Al continues.

"When?"

"About a half an hour ago. Uh, said she found your brother," Pandora's confused demeanor changed to attentiveness in an instant, a sharp contrast from Diego and Luther.

"Why are you-," Luther was quickly cut off.

"It's Klaus!" Pandora and Diego said simultaneously, Pandora's voice trumping Diego's. Pandora ran up the stairs and grabbed onto Diego's arm so he didn't leave just yet, "Let me come with you!"

Diego shook his head, "You have a concussion, I'll handle it, don't worry. Eudora- Patch called for me anyways," Diego left quickly, Al closing the door right after.

Pandora, annoyed, walked down the stairs and began looking at the pictures and posters Diego had on the wall, most notably a poster for a fist fight between Diego and another boxer. As her eyes scanned down the paragraph of information, she felt a familiar warm, presence not far from her. Her eyes went wide and she looked at Luther who had went back to staring at Five. Pandora's head turned back and forth between the seat where the mannequin was placed and Luther, quickly moving the mannequin off the chair and placing it on the ground. She sat down, telling Luther, "Keep watching Five, I have to do something important I have to do."

He looked over his shoulder, confused, "Yeah that's what I was going to... Pandora?" As he was talking, Pandora slumped in the chair, the only thing keeping her in it was the two wooden handles.

Pandora, not paying attention to Luther at all, hugged Ben, but he didn't hug back right away. She pulled back to see Ben looking very distressed, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth in a frown. "Ben, what's wrong?" Pandora asked, her hands cupping his face.

Ben opened his mouth to speak but got distracted by something over Pandora's shoulder. Pandora followed his eyes to see Luther trying to gently shove her awake, seconds passed, he got more and more terrified. "Does he know?" Ben asked.

"I guess not, but that's not important" Pandora wasn't terribly worried about it right that moment, facing him again and tapping his shoulder, her hands resting on his arms "Please Ben, you gotta tell me what's wrong."

Ben rubbed his hands over his face multiple times before carding them through his hair, "I can't find Klaus."


	6. // chapter five : number five //

2005

Sneaking out had become the new regular, not for just ben and pandora but for the rest of the siblings as well. Pandora often found herself sneaking into Ben's bedroom or Ben sneaking into her's on nights where they wouldn't sleep, talking out whatever that had happened.

"Besides having extensive training after it, how was school?" Ben asked Pandora, who he'd been sitting next to on her bed.

"Oh, today was the last day," Pandora nodded, "It was just the usual, everyone saying goodbyes, wishing them a good summer, making plans, signing yearbooks that sorta thing..... But, I started a fight."

"How come?" Ben asked, not entirely surprised.

"Same jerk as always, one of Marin's team members on the cheer squad got jealous cause Marin got squad captain for the next season and not her so she got the 'bright' idea to start rumor that Marin slept with some jock to ruin her reputation," Pandora summarizes, "So I walked up to her and called her out on her bullshit."

"And then what happened?"

"She got embarrassed and tried to slap me, but at that point, since it was self defense, I punched her and accidentally broke her nose," Pandora shrugged, "I was in the principal's office for a while and I missed the assembly... But I wasn't gonna stand by while that rumor was being spread."

"You didn't use your powers did you?" Ben asked.

"God, no. Then I would have gotten suspended," Pandora shook her head, "Oh! I forgot to tell you! The pattern for Diego's blanket came in!" She sat up straighter as a smile spread across her face, "The yarn came in too, it's so soft and thick, and it's made out of real wool too! He's going to love it, but I gotta look for yarn for Klaus's next—"

She was cut short by Ben leaning forwards, pressing his lips just on the corner of her mouth, a failed attempt of a kiss.

"Ben, did you just try to kiss me?" Pandora asked.

"I tried my best," Ben was turning more red by the second, pulling backwards, "I mean, it was totally out of the blue and I totally missed and..." he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"If you wanted to kiss me Ben, you could have just asked," Pandora whispered, forcing Ben to meet her eyes before leaning in and pressed her lips to his, forming a long overdue kiss.

Present day

"What do you mean you can't find Klaus? He's literally impossible to lose," Pandora shook her head, then rubbed her face, "Oh my god Ben, where did he go?"

"I don't know. He escaped the hotel, stole the kidnapper's suitcase, got on a bus, opened the suitcase, then suddenly he was gone in a flash of blue light. I couldn't follow him so I came back here."

Pandora started to pace back and forth in the room, running hands hands through her hair, "We gotta find him, we gotta find him now."

"Five is waking up now, you have to help take care of him, we can talk more about it when we have time." Ben said, his head shaking slightly.

"You're right, you're right." Pandora said "I gotta go, I love you." hse gave him a quick kiss, then transferred back into her body

...

Five had been in and out of sleep the entire night, mumbling nonsense both asleep and awake. This left pandora restless, only giving short moments to go back and talk to ben throughout the night. But once Five had woken up fully, he finally told Luther the same thing that he had just a day prior.

Luther sat in stunned silence, trying to process what Five had just told him. It was hard to swallow, the very thought of the world around them ending. Everything that they had worked so hard to achieve would be flushed away. Pandora had already received these news a few days prior, but it never failed to give her chills up the spine.

"When is it supposed to happen?" Luther questioned, wringing his hands a bit tighter than he had before, "This... apocalypse."

"I can't give you the exact hour, but... from what I could gather we have four days left," Five responded, clearly distressed.

"Why didn't you tell us any sooner?" Luther asked, anger now entering his voice.

"Would you have believed him?" Pandora shot down.

"It wouldn't have mattered anyways," Five responded, shaking his head as his gaze shifted towards the floor.

"Of course it would," Luther argued, "We could have banded together and helped you try to stop this thing."

"Yeah, but do you really think the Umbrella Academy would band together, especially now? We don't even know where half our members are," Pandora said shaking her head, "We don't even have a plan."

"For the record, you already tried," Five said, looking back up at the both of them.

"What do you mean?" Luther asked, set back.

Five looked back to the ground yet again, taking a moment before he replied again, "I found all of you. Your bodies."

"We die?"

"Horribly. You were together, trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world."

"Wait, how do you know that?"

Five shoved his hand back in his pocket, pulling out a clump of fabric. He pulled out a prosthetic eye from the fabric, "This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you," He tossed the eye to Luther, who caught and examined it, "Must've ripped out of their head before you went down."

"Who's head."

"Like I said, I don't know."

"Well, there's a serial number on the back. Think maybe you can try-"

"We already tried that Luther, the numbers a dead end, hasn't even been made yet," Pandora interrupted.

Luther tossed the eye back to five, who slipped it back into his pocket. In that moment, the door slammed open, Diego storming into the room in fury, "Piece of shit, do you have any idea what you just did?" Luther grabbed him before he could grab Five, lifting him into the air, "Put me down! Get your ape hands off me!" Diego shouted, struggling to fight against Luther clutch. Pandora stood between Luther and Five, sheltering Five.

"I can do this as long as it take you to calm down," Luther said, holding him tighter.

"Fine," diego hissed, then Luther set him back on the ground on his feet.

"Now, are you going to tell us what you're talking about?" Luther asked

"Our brother's been pretty busy since he got back," Diego said, staring holes through Five, "He was in the middle of the shooting at Griddy's, and then Gimble Brothers, after the guys in the masks attacked The Academy, looking for HIM!" Diego jabbed his finger towards Five, Pandora caught his hand instantly, gripping it tightly.

"Where is Klaus? Did you find him at least? Or even a trail that we could follow?" Pandora questioned, letting go of Diego.

"Hell if I know where Klaus is, he wasn't there when I found him," Diego shook his head.

"None of it which is your concern," Five answered, ignoring what Pandora had commented.

"It is now, they just killed my friend," Diego said.

"Who are they, Five?" Luther asked, turning back to Five.

"They work for my former employer," Five responded, "A woman called The Handler. She sent them... to stop me. Then, soon as Diego's friend got in their way, well, fair game."

"And now, they're my fair game," Diego said, "And I'm going to see to it they pay." Diego turned to leave the room.

"That would be a mistake Diego, they've killed people far more dangerous than you," Five said in an attempt to make his brother stop.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Diego responded, then pushed through the door and left into the hallway, slamming the door behind him.

"Could you please look after him?" Pandora asked, but before Luther could give back a definite answer, she left through the door, following Diego. She weaved through gym equipment and various people exercising until she finally caught up to him, grabbing his arm in an attempt to make him stop, "Diego, we have to find Klaus. He could be in danger with those crazy masked people running around, and what Five has told us, I don't think they're the only ones after us."

"Pandora, Klaus isn't a priority right now, if you're so concerned about him, find him your own damn self," Diego growled, then yanked his arm out of her grasp, continuing to pace forward, and eventually through one of the back doors.

Pandora used the same back door, but by the time she left the building, both Diego and his car was gone. She approached her own vehicle, glancing at the back seats for a brief moment before she entered into her car, locking the doors the moment she got in it. Her body slumped as she left it, looking at her passenger seat where ben was already sitting, "Alright, where do you think he went again?"

...

Pandora had searched every place she could think of, every store, alleyway, anywhere she could think of. She even went back to the motel that Diego had originally been called to, but she couldn't find Klaus anywhere. Not to mention, the police had already swarmed the place, making it impossible to enter into the building.

"Love, we've already been up this street twice, why would we go up it again?" Pandora questioned, leaning her arms across the steering wheel.

"We've already been through everything in town twice anyways, might as well make it up around that street a third," Ben reasoned, "I don't know where klaus would pop up, that suitcase just made him disappear. But we should probably go back to the academy after."

"Fine," Pandora said, A bus pulled up near the car, stopping fully before Klaus stumbled out of it, clutching a suitcase closely to his chest with bloody hands. He looked left, then right, trying to get his bearings of everything. Pandora and Ben looked back in disbelief for just moment before Pandora entered back into her body, opening the door and letting herself out of the car.

Klaus took the suitcase by the handle, then swung it at a nearby bench, sparks flying out of the suitcase at impact, rage took the place of sorrow in his eyes as he swung again and again at the bench, the suitcase cracking and breaking.

"Woah, woah, woah Klaus!" Pandora exclaimed, rushing up to him, grabbing him by the shoulders, "Klaus, it's me! Pandora!"

"This stupid, goddamn suitcase!" Klaus said, almost shouting, "Taking me from him!" He swung the suitcase at the ground, finally letting it ago as it erupted into flames.

"Klaus!" Pandora pressed, he turned, meeting her eyes. His eyes were red and puffy, filling with more tears. He hugged her tightly, almost squeezing the air out of her lungs. "Hey, you're okay now, you're safe, just breathe Klaus. We're going to go back to the academy now, " Klaus took in several, ragged breaths, hugging her tighter than before.

...

"Is there anything else you need me to do?" Pandora softly asked Klaus, handing him a fresh towel from the linen closet. Klaus shook his head before turning back towards the bathroom, "Hey, when you need to talk about it, just ask." He turned back for a moment, but didn't reply as he shut the bathroom door.

Pandora sighed, then turned on her heel and started up the hallway. Pandora had known Klaus since they were kids, she knew him inside and out. She had never seen him act this way. What ever Klaus had been through, it completely broke him. She wasn't going to press the answer out of him though, he had to come talk to her when he was ready.

She found herself on the upstairs level, Pogo sitting in a chair while quietly patching up Grace where she sat.

"Hey Pogo, where are the cleaning supplies? Klaus has left a mess in the hallway," Pandora asked.

"In the closet over there, it should have everything you need," Pogo responded, looking back up at her, "Oh, and I forgot to give this to you this morning." He grabbed an ice pack like object and held it out to her.

"What is it?" Pandora asked, taking it into her hands.

"It'll help you with your concussion, last time I checked the intruder that came in last night gave you quite the head ache," Pogo explained, "Just press it against your head for fifteen minutes and you should be fine."

"Thanks Pogo!" Pandora said, then passed by him, opening the closet that Pogo had mentioned earlier, grabbing the supplies that she needed and headed back to the hallway she was previously.

She filled the bucket with hot water from the faucet in the tub just after she added soap to it, bubbling instantly. She took the bucket and the rag and started mopping up the blood that Klaus had left on the floor.

Five walked in, his hands stuffed into his pockets, "Everything okay over here?"

"Yeah, just cleaning up the last bit of the blood," Pandora sighed, then dropped the bloody rag back into the bucket of soapy water. She looked back up and saw Five standing at the end of the hallway.

"Where's Klaus?" He asked.

Pandora nodded back to Klaus's bedroom. Five passed her, knocking on the partially open door before he let himself into Klaus's bedroom.

Pandora took the bucket, dumping out the contents out in the bathtub before setting it back down at the base of the tub. She looked back down the hallway, wiping her hands off on her jeans. She couldn't quite make out what they were talking about, but at least Five had him talking. She left the bathroom, walking towards Klaus's room just down the hallway.

"You know, I can recognize the symptoms," Five said, putting his hands into his pockets

"Symptoms of what?" Klaus asked, sitting back on his bed. He was playing stupid, even Pandora knew that.

"Klaus, what is he talking about?" Pandora asked, leaning against the doorway.

"Is it obvious Pandora? The jet lag, full body itch, headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain," Five said, then turned back to Klaus who was sitting on his bad with his head in his hands, "Are you gonna tell me about it?"

"Your pals, when they broke into the house and couldn't find you, they took me hostage instead," Klaus said, lifting his head out of his hands.

"And you stole their briefcase in return," Five nodded, smirking.

"Well, yeah. I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, what ever. And then I opened it," Klaus summarized.

"And the next thing you knew you were... where?" Five asked, he was more excited then concerned "Or should I say when?"

"What do you mean 'When'?" Pandora asked, "I thought you were the only one that could Time travel."

"What difference does it make?" Klaus asked.

"What diff-- Okay, how long were you gone?" Five asked

"Almost a year."

"A year? Do you know what this means?" Five asked

"Yeah, I'm ten months older now."

"No, this isn't any sort of joke now, Klaus. Hazel and Cha Cha will do whatever they can do to get that briefcase back. Where is it now?"

"Klaus destroyed it, it burst into flames," Pandora said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"What?! And you didn't try to stop him?!" Five exclaimed.

"Do you think I can stop him? He's like ten inches taller than me and there was no way I was going to use my power on Klaus," Pandora snapped back, "I didn't even know what the briefcase did, I still don't know what it does, you failed to answer that question for me."

"We needed it you morons, so I could get back," Five explained, "I could start over!" Klaus shook his head, standing up from the bed and walking past the both of them, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Interrogations over, just... leave," Klaus spoke, then turned down a different part of the hallway.

"Well, what now?" Pandora asked.

"Well, like I said we only have so much time before the apocalypse happens, I'm going to stop it," Five replied simply, raiding Klaus's desk for a scrap of paper of pen. He tried to scrawl down whenever he needed to write down.

"I'm going to help you," Pandora stated.

"No, you're not."

"Then what are you writing?"

"That's classified."

"Five, you gotta trust me. You keep pushing me away and all I want to do is to help you, even if it's small stuff. The end of the world that we know is coming, and you're going to need all the help you need, but that starts with trusting me, even if it's only a little bit," Pandora said.

Five sighed, then stuff the note he was writing into his pocket, turning back to Pandora, "Pandora, where I'm about to go, you can't follow. But if an occasion arises where I need your help, you'll be the first person that I'll call for." He passed by her, going down the hallway on opposite route from Klaus.

Pandora sighed, following the same route that Klaus, passing Pogo fixing Grace momentarily before she reached the stairs.

"Klaus, have you seen Diego anywhere?" Pandora asked, coming down the stairs just behind him.

"No I haven't since last night," Klaus replied, then looked down that the chandelier that was lying down on the ground, the same chandelier that fell on Luther, "What happened to chandelier?"

"It fell," Pandora shrugged.

"Klaus you look like shit," Diego commented, passing by the both of them, he was carrying a metal suitcase with an Umbrella stamped on the front of it in one hand.

"Why, thank you. Hey, where are you going?"  
"Nope," Diego replied.

"What?"

"I'm not giving you a ride, ask Pandora, she's right there."

"Oh come on, man. I can't drive."

"I don't c--"

"Great, just give me two minutes, I'll grab my things," Klaus said, then patted Diego's chest as he passed by him.

"Diego, I can't have you fight Hazel and Cha Cha alone. They'll kill you," Pandora shook her head.

"This isn't your fight Pandora, just let me do this," Diego shook his head.

"They attacked this house too, they took Klaus and tortured him, they gave me a concussion, If anything this is something that the both of us need to solve," Pandora said, "Klaus can just, stay in the car while we take care of it."

Diego shook his head, "Fine, but it won't be my fault if you get hurt, or die."

...

"You okay?" Diego asked, still keeping his eye on the road. Klaus didn't reply as he pressed a bottle to his lips and took a sip out of it.

"He won't talk, not even to me," Pandora said, glancing at the back seat before ultimately returning her eyes down at an old, worn out letter that ben had written to her years ago. Despite the letter being over a decade old, the blue ink was still bright. The folds in the paper had almost torn, being taped together multiple times. Pandora would often find herself reading it right before a stressful event, or if she was nervous or upset. The letter always managed to calm her nerves just a bit.

"Wow, this is a first. My brother Klaus is silent. Last time you were this quiet, we were twelve. Ran down the stairs wearing Grace's heels, tripped over, and broke your jaw. How long was it wired shut again?"

"Eight weeks," Klaus replied.

"Eight glorious weeks of bliss," Diego said.

"Hey, just... just drop me off here," Klaus said, sitting up more in his seat. Diego without another word drove the car up to the side of the street and parked it, Klaus letting himself out.

"Do you really think he's okay?" Diego asked as they both watched him walk into a veteran's bar.

"Hell no, do you see him? He has the same look in is eyes that I had when Ben died," Pandora shook her head, putting the letter back in her jacket pocket, "I just, I just wish he would talk to me about it."

"That was a letter from Ben, right? I swear he wrote a million of those, I used to wonder what he had to say so badly."

"It's all softcore porn."

Diego obviously didn't find it as funny as Pandora did, his face unmoving while Pandora was busy stifling a laugh. "Let's go get Klaus." They both exited the car, moving quickly as they dodged the rain and entered into the bar. Klaus was standing by a board covered in Vietnam pictures and badges, one of his hands pressed up against one of the pictures hanging.

Diego walked up to him, putting a hand on Klaus's shoulder, when Klaus saw who it was, he turned, sighing.

"Just go away, please."

"Not until you talk to us Klaus, you can't keep this stuff bottled up," Pandora said, Diego letting go of Klaus.

"Is that a threat? You threatening me?"

"Hey guys, lady. This bar? Is for vets only," A veteran said, walking up to the three of them..

"I am a vet," Klaus responded, which caused Pandora to raise one of her eyebrows.

"Really? Where did you serve?"

"None of your business."

"You got balls coming in here, pretending you're one of us."

"Oh, I have every right to be in here, just like you," Klaus turned back to the veteran, "Asshole."

The vet started to walk towards Klaus, Diego stepped in between them, stopping the veteran. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey. Slow down, marine," Diego spoke, "All right? My brother's had a few too many. Let's just call it a day, all go our own way."

"Sure thing," the vet responded.

"Thank you. Klaus--"

"As long as you apologize," The vet finished. Klaus just responded by laughing, returning back to the picture that was hanging on the wall.

"Fine. I'm sorry. He's sorry. We're all sorry. So, are we good?" Diego asked.

"I want to hear him say it," The vet pointed pointed past Diego, right at Klaus.

"Hey man, I'm just trying to--"

"No, no. He's right Diego," Klaus spoke, then turned back to all of them, "He's right, He's right. I'd like to apologize that you are are depriving some village of their IDIOT!" The vet swung at Klaus, Klaus ducking it and head butting the vet in response, triggering other vets to join in on the fight. 

...

"You've got a big mouth, you know that right?" Diego asked one they had all gotten back to his car.

"Jesus Christ, I can't believe you two started a fight, a veteran's bar of all place," Pandora shook her head, rubbing her now raw knuckles.

"Oh wow, a truly shocking revelation," Klaus replied sarcastically, pulling out a packet of pills out of his coat.

"Everything's a joke to you, right? Would you stop it?" Diego snatched the pills out of Klaus's hand. "Why are you putting this shit in your body? Check this out," Diego pulled back his coat and pat his stomach, "My body is a temple. All that shit you do, it's just weakness."

"That's what I've been trying to tell him, Diego. But he doesn't listen," Pandora shook her head.

"Oh wow, beautiful. Well, weakness feels so good," Klaus pulled out another packet, causing Diego to smack him upside the head.

"What's going on with you? Huh?" Diego said, nearly shouting.

"Don't hit me asshole!"

"Don't you tell me and Pandora that everything is alright because we saw you in there, and you were crying like a baby!"

"Because I lost someone!" Klaus exclaimed, then sighed, looking down at his lap. "I lost someone, the only person I've ever truly loved more than myself," He finished yet another pill out of his pocket, "Cheers," He said, then popped it into his mouth.

"Well, you're luckier than most. When you lose someone, at least you can... see them whenever you want," Diego spoke, then glanced back at the rear view mirror, then turned his body to look back, "We got our man."

Pandora looked back, seeing a man with slicked back hair and a beard dressed in a suit unlock his car and get in. The suit was just like Hazel's when he attacked the house.

"Hey I know that guy," Klaus said.

"How could you possibly--"

"He and that angry lady tortured me," Klaus spoke, "I barely got out with my life."

"We gotta get this guy."

...

Pandora sat for a moment, looking up at the motel room from the car window, rain still continuing to fall, "So what's the plan?" She asked, turning back to Diego.

"You hold them down, I'll take care of it from there," Diego told her simply. Pandora saw shape pass by the motel window briefly, then the man, who Pandora has now suspected to be Hazel, appeared in the window, spotting them instantly.

"Bingo, it's showtime Pandora," Diego said, starting to strap knives to his chest.

"You know that killing these people won't make you feel any better," Klaus commented, taking a few more sips out of his bottle.

"Yeah, but when it's done, I'm gonna sleep like a baby," Diego responded.

"Sure you will."

Hazel emerged from the room, carrying an ice bucket in one hand. He turned and walked down a different set of stairs.

"Klaus, stay in the car," Pandora said.

"What are you talking about? This guy tortured me."

"We already have plan, and that plan doesn't include you." Diego explained, then he and Pandora exited the car, heading towards the motel. They approached the stairwell, moving up it silently. Diego pulled out a knife, causing Pandora to realize that she as unarmed.

"So, what's the plan friends?" Klaus asked, following them up as well.

"Klaus, we told you to wait in the car," Pandora responded.

"Yeah, you both also told me that licking a nine-volt battery would give me pubes," Klaus defended, taking another sip.

"We were eight," Diego said, Klaus shrugging in response. He leaned towards the motel door, Diego grabbing him to make him stop. "Uh-uh, for once, I need you to listen to us, okay? Now, go back to the car, If we don't come back out in two minutes, it means we're probably dead." He half escorted, half drug Klaus back at the bottom of the stairs, "That means go get help. Okay?"

Klaus sighed in defeat, "Yeah, okay, okay okay, okay," Diego ran back up the stairs, joining Pandora at the top of the stairs.

"Diego, I don't think they're here," Pandora commented

"What do you mean do you 'don't think they're here'? We just saw one of them leave the room," Diego argued .

"I can't find their souls, I did a sweep and they weren't there," Pandora shook her head.

"Then where could they possibly be?"

"I don't know, but something turned up over there," Pandora responded, pointing in the general direction.

From the direction that Pandora had pointed, tires screeches could be heard, then blasting out of the corner from the road came Hazel and Cha Cha, now with their masks on, firing their weapons in both directions. Pandora ducked behind a wall, a bullet momentary grazing her right cheek. Klaus appeared out of nowhere and grabbing Diego, not before a bullet pierced his arm..

"Oh man, see? You used to think I was an idiot," Klaus said proudly.

"I still think you're an idiot," Diego said, clutching his arm tightly

"Hurry up, they're getting away!" Pandora exclaimed, racing down the stairs, only to see Hazel and Cha Cha's gone and out of the parking lot. As they approached their own vehicle, they could see that all four of the tires had been slashed. Klaus kicked one of the tires out of frustration.

"Was this apart of yours and Pandora's master plan?" Klaus asked, leaning against an ice cream truck that was parked right in front of them.

"Shut up," Diego said.

"Guys, I think I have a new idea," Pandora said, eyeing the truck, ignoring her the pain in her cheek.

"Oh hell no, we are not using the ice cream truck!"

...

Pandora found herself in the middle of the console of the ice cream truck, sitting on the floor with her foot pressed against it with Diego in the passenger seat and Klaus in the driver's seat, going full speed. Pandora clutched onto the bottom of Diego's seat and noticed a small button with a music label on it. Throwing caution to the wind, she pressed it, an ice cream truck version of Ride of the Valkyries played. Just over the hill appeared the rest of the umbrella academy, minus Allison and Vanya. Alongside them were the very people that shot at them nearly a half an hour again. Klaus took a moment to wave at Luther and Five before returning his eyes on the road. Hazel and Cha Cha stood out in the middle of the road, staring at them oddly.

"Go faster!" Diego shouted, Klaus slamming his foot on the gas pedal. Hazel and Cha Cha raised their weapons and started firing at the ice cream truck. But the ice cream truck slammed into them, causing them to fly backwards. Immediately after, the truck slammed into Hazel and Cha-Cha's car, causing all three of them to jolt forward. In a quick rush, Pandora protected her head as she was sent back to the metal floor of the ice cream truck. Her rib cage aching from where her knee compacted into her. Pandora tried to get up but her ankle wouldn't allow her, pain shooting up her leg.

Klaus stumbled out of the ice cream truck, Luther appearing seconds later, reaching out and pulling everyone out of the truck. Klaus pulled Diego out before moving to get Pandora, Luther pushes him away,

"Take Diego to the car, I have her!" He shouted. Klaus obeyed his order immediately, running with an arm under Diego to support him. Luther pulled Pandora out of the truck, being as careful as he could to mind her ankle. Finding it easier than running alongside Pandora, he picked her up and ran to the car, not far behind Klaus and Diego.

"What the hell are you guys here?" Luther interrogated as they all packed into the car.

"Where's five?" Pandora asked in response.

"Hell if I know!" Luther pressed on the gas pedals, tires squealing as they drove away from Hazel and Cha Cha.


	7. // chapter six : the day that wasn't //

2006

Everyone except the kids of the Umbrella Academy could vouch for the statement that Sir Reginald Hargreeves was very far from being a kind man, nor was he lenient on free time the kids had. Though, as the kids got older and a bit of help from Allison, their free time for the week was extended to one eight hour time period by the time they were seventeen.

As soon as the news hit both Ben and Pandora they couldn't have cared less what the others were doing, all they knew was that they wanted to go get food at a diner that was open.

They ate and laughed without having to worry about looking over their shoulder. It was quite strange it was to not have to sneak around at night for some alone time between the two of them.

"Thank you!" Pandora said back to the waiting staff both her and Ben left hand in hand. Ben quickly thanked them as well before pulling Pandora out the door. "What do you wanna go do?" Pandora asked.

"Well, you've been out in the city more than I have, I don't know anything around here," Ben replied, his eyes moving back and forth between different pieces of the city, things he'd never have the time to enjoy on missions.

Pandora hummed in response to Ben, looking around to see a commercial store with multiple sale signs in the window for clothes, food, and general goods. Pandora looked back at Ben, who was still gazing at the city, and took into account the lack of clothes he had to wear on outings. The most he had were jeans and a sweatshirt Pandora had bought for him as a gag gift. "We can go shopping?"

"Why?" Ben asked.

"Because Ben," Pandora laughed, "We're gonna be from all of this Umbrella Academy shit in a few years and you need more than a pair of jeans and an academy uniform." She could tell by the glint in is eye that Ben was reluctant, she didn't know why but she assumed he was insecure. Pandora took both of his hands and pulled him across the street to the store.

When they walked in, Pandora b-lined it to the men's clothing section and began picking out various articles of clothing with bits of input from Ben.

After about twenty minutes of going through clothes Pandora gave Ben a pile of three jeans, three t-shirts and a black sweatshirt Ben had picked out for himself to try on. He went into the dressing room alone and cane out every time he tried on something new, Pandora hyping Ben up and taking items away that didn't fit his body type or Ben just didn't care for.

Whilst taking back a t-shirt Ben that was too small on Ben, Pandora spotted a black leather jacket hung up on a random rack by someone who was too lazy to put it back in its proper place. Pandora put the shirt back and grabbed the jacket before anyone else could, nearly sprinting to the dressing room Ben was in.

As if on cue, Ben came out right as Pandora came back. "I kind of like this," Ben said in reference to his plain black sweatshirt and black jeans he had put on. "I put on the sweatshirt with the blue jeans but it didn't..." Ben trailed off when he saw Pandora smiling while holding up the leather jacket. "Don't you, don't you think that's a bit much," Ben laughed nervously, eyeing the jacket very suspiciously.

"Oh come on," Pandora started, "You don't even have to go into the dressing room, this would look killer with the outfit you have on."

"Over the sweatshirt?" Ben asked.

"Over the sweatshirt," Pandora confirmed, turning the opening of the jacket to Ben so he could easily slip his arms through. He sighed and put on the jacket, pulling his sweatshirt sleeves out from under the leather. He turned back to Pandora and opened his arms as if to say, "Here it is."

"Look, I won't lie to you," Pandora started, making Ben nervous because he was starting to really like the outfit, "You look so hot,"

"It's not hot actual-."

"Sexy Ben, that kind of hot," The comment instilled a lot of needed confidence in Ben, so much so he was willing to wear the outfit everyday if it meant Pandora found him sexy.

Ben got a bit flustered, not knowing how to respond to that. All he said was, "I can't even afford this, and where would I keep it anyways? Klaus and Diego would just pick on me for it."

"I can, my mom has given me money for chores since... Forever, I can pay for it. We can just keep it in my closet anyways. Now go change back so we can pay," Pandora said, Ben nodded and moved to go back into the dressing room. "Hey love?" Ben stopped and hummed in response, "I'm going to get something real quick, just meet me at one of the checkout lanes," Ben gave Pandora a thumbs up and they went their separate ways; Pandora to the paint aisle, Ben to the dressing room.

—

PRESENT || WEDNESDAY (8:15 a.m.)

Why Luther insisted coffee so important before a meeting about the end of the world didn't make sense to Pandora, the phrase, "We have all the time in the world," that so many people say in various different situations was no longer applicable. However, she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity of a free drink so she ordered the usual - straight black coffee. Allison, who had gone with her, had given her a look of concern and disgust to which she replied, "Don't. I got enough of that from Ben."

When they got back, they saw that Luther had woken the ex superhero group and gotten them to come down to the living area, the only ones missing were Vanya and Five. Given the obvious tired and annoyed glances from the boys, Allison and Pandora handed out the coffee, they had already began to talk about the Apocalypse.

"Three days?" Allison questioned while handing Luther his order.

"That's what Five said," Luther confirmed.

"The old bastard did mention the apocalypse now that I think of it. He just left out the part of how soon."

"But can we trust him? I don't know if you've noticed, but Five's a little," Allison proceeded to whistle and gesture that he was crazy with her finger.

"Our little psycho," Klaus laughed.

Pandora shrugged, "I don't know, he was pretty convincing. I mean, why else would those masked freaks be chasing him if he's wrong?"

"That's why they were after him?" Diego chimed in.

"Yeah," Luther once again confirmed.

"What did Five even see?" Allison asked. Pandora and Luther exchanged a glance.

"Uh... Well apparently, we all fought together against whoever was possible."

The rest of the group was obviously skeptical, proceeding to stare holes into the likes of Pandora and Luther. Luther looked to Pandora for help but she gave him a fake smile and took a long drink from her coffee. He cleared his throat, nodded and moved on from the situation.

"Okay. So, here's the plan. Uh, we go through Dad's research-," Luther began before getting interrupted from shouts of disapproval from his siblings. He walked right over to the opposite side of the group next Pandora.

Klaus was the loudest, waving his hand to get Luther's attention, "What actually happened the first time around?"

"Yeah what're you not telling us?" Diego began, "Come on big boy, spit it out."

Luther looked down at his coffee and took a deep breath, murmuring words not even Pandora could hear and she was standing right next to him, but she got the gist of what he was trying to say.

"What was that?" Allison asked.

"He said we died," Pandora put bluntly.

More arguing and shouting commenced as they tried to sort the shocking news Pandora had given them.

"No, we need to figure this out!" Diego stated.

"Is it just us?" Allison asked.

"Yes, it's everybody," Pandora clarified.

"In the house?"

"Like, the whole planet?"

"No, outside the house, everyone died," Luther said.

Before the situation could go any further a familiar voice popped up from behind them. They all turned to see Vanya and from what Allison described on the way to the café, Vanya's boyfriend, Leonard.

"Hey. What's going on?" She asked.

Allison paused, exchanging a look from Luther before saying, "It's a family matter."

"A family matter," Vanya repeated, getting angrier by the second, especially at the sight of Pandora. "So of course you couldn't bother to include me but you could include Pandora? Just because she dated Ben doesn't give her any rights to being included in a 'family matter.'"

"Watch it Vanya," Pandora warned.

"No it's not like that. We were-," Luther began, he wasn't able to finish.

"Don't let me interrupt," Vanya said before turning to leave.

Allison tried to stop her, "Vanya wait! I'll fill you in later when we're alone," clearly referring to the guy eyeing Pandora suspiciously.

"Please, please don't bother. And I won't either."

"Vanya that's not fair."

"Fair?" Vanya started, "There's nothing fair about being your sister. I have been left out of everything for as long as I can remember. And I used to think it was Dad's fault, but he's dead," The group stayed silent, "So it turns out you're the assholes."

Vanya left the room with Leonard just as Pandora moved near the doors to throw away her small cup of coffee. That's when she heard Leonard say, "I'm not sure it's entirely great to say this but Pandora was my favorite, so sad about the alcoholism though."

Pandora tensed up, closing her eyes and biting the inside of her cheek. Allison, still close to Pandora, reached out to touch Pandora's shoulder but she didn't want any comfort. It'd been awhile since someone had mentioned the wretched thing that had screwed up at least half of her twenties, it's a wonder how she got through the first part of college being slightly drunk regularly.

"I'm gonna go find Vanya and explain." Allison stated.

"No, wait, there isn't time, we need to figure out what causes the apocalypse," Luther said but everyone seemed discouraged and not interested about the conversation to follow. "Now, there are loads of possibilities. Nuclear war, asteroids, but I'm thinking, this is about the Moon. Right? Dad must have sent me up there for a reason. And I was giving him daily updates on the conditions, I sent field samples. The first thing we need to do is find his research."

Klaus interrupted with, "Hold on. Hold the phone. We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?"

"Klaus, is shockingly right. What gives us a win this time?" Diego said.

"Five. Last time we didn't have him," Luther said, "We weren't all together. This time we'll have the full force of the Umbrella Academy, that's what we need."

"Luther are you forgetting something?" Pandora asked, "Five isn't here! He left us alone, without him, without his knowledge we don't have a huge chance against whatever ends the world. Sure, he said he had a plan to change the timeline but if he had done it, he'd be here by now." She shook her head and left the room, wanting nothing more than to spend her few remaining days with someone who actually cared about how she was doing. More importantly, she was mad that everything she loved was going to be wiped out of existence in a few days and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

"Pandora don't leave!" Pandora heard Luther yell before she shut the door to the old and worn mansion. The loud bustling noise of New York immediately flooded Pandora's ears as she stepped outside. She looked around the street with an annoyed yet somber look in her eye before walking home to call Marin. On the way she heavily debated on whether or not she should tell Marin about the end of the world; on one hand if she told her sister she'd be able to make peace with anyone she's wronged, if she wanted to, but if she didn't say anything Marin would be able to just enjoy the next few days worry free, with Pandora.

Was it selfish? Maybe but according to Pandora she had every right to be selfish.

\---

It didn't take long for Marin to come over but over the phone, Pandora noticed the hesitancy in her sisters voice, but she didn't seem to pay it any mind. The sisters talked for a few hours, though it was mostly Marin listening to Pandora complain about her past few days with as many vague details as possible.

"God, and then Vanya's boyfriend Leonard had to go and mention my past alcoholism like.. Like he wanted to get on my nerves!" Pandora exclaimed, not paying attention to the random movie she had picked out a half an hour ago. "That's so rude! You don't just go around point out peoples past issues."

Marin's focus snapped back at her sisters words, ignoring what she had previously had been saying "Vanya has a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he's a creep... why?" Pandora asked. Marin just shrugged and went silent, pushing the question no further. "Alright don't answer me then," Pandora said sarcastically. Marin ignored her sister and checked her watch before getting up and grabbing her shoes. "Hey, woah, I was joking you don't have to leave.

"I wasn't leaving because of that," Marin lightly joked, she slipped on her coat and tugged it down to smooth it out, "I have a date." She gave a small but genuine smile to Pandora who gave her nothing in return. "She's really nice," Marin attempted to reason.

"A date? I thought you were going to stay here for tonight," Pandora said, not even attempting to hide the fact that she was irritated and hurt.

Marin scoffed, "I can't just be here at your beck and call! You haven't even asked how I've been doing this entire week. It's been shit by the way. I have a life outside of you and your selfish, Ben Hargreeves oriented world that you've been stuck in since we were fifteen. If you have a problem with me going on this date, the one thing I was looking forward to this week, keep it to your goddamn self."

Her words hit Pandora like bullets, each hit deadlier than the last. She thought she'd been a good sister to Marin and if Pandora wasn't already angry, she would've told Marin she was sorry and that she'd try harder. Maybe she would've encouraged her to go on the date and have the time of her life but she didn't. All she did was sit there, her body running hot with negative feelings and emotions. Pandora opened her mouth, wanting to say something, anything in her defense but she was cut off.

"That's final Pandora," Marin stated, pulling the apartment door shut with a loud bang. Pandora stood up off the couch, pulling at the roots of her hair while she paced in her living room as she processed everything that had just happened. After a few minutes, she ran her hands over face and placed them on her hips, looking at her jacket and shoes on the ground by the door. A walk seemed like a better thing to do then stew around in her suddenly claustrophobic apartment.

It didn't take long for her to put on each article of clothing on to get out the door to the somewhat fresh air of the city. Given the lack of a park nearby, Pandora strolled around the city, straying off her normal route for a change of scenery.

\--

When Pandora finally snapped back from her own thoughts, she realized that she was in a part of the city she hadn't been in for nearly ten years. It brought back too many memories that didn't have a middle but rather a blank spot of dissociation with a sad beginning and a sad end.

Now dark, the sign that read, "Liquors," in fancy lettering, illuminated Pandora's face, the light flickering every so often. Underneath the sign on the maroon overhang, had the companies number printed on the left and, "Free delivery world wines & liquor," every white letter bolded and capitalized. The windows had various different types of alcohol placed on an all too bright yellow display shelving unit, each bottle ranging in expense. The window was decorated with the name of the store and different posters that depicted what other types of beers, vodkas, wines, scotches, and whiskeys they sold, with the exception of a few hard fruity drinks.

It didn't occur to Pandora how long she was staring at the store until a man bumped into her and said, "Watch where you're going lady!" It didn't make sense to her, given the fact that she wasn't the one moving but it didn't seem to bother her enough to say anything back. Instead she found herself walking into the shop, the bell above the door making a small dinging sound with the open and closing of the door. Pandora's sense of self security was nowhere to be found and the one voice that kept her sober had left. It was just silence in her head.

Next thing she new, she was out the door with a bottle of Bacardi white rum, and a new cork screw.

\---

Walking up the stairs to her apartment, Pandora was attempting to get the plastic seal off the opening with her her nails, struggling only for a moment. She tossed the white plastic to the side and quickly entered her apartment, not for fear of getting caught, but the overwhelming need to get the substance into her body.

Pandora set the bottle on the closest surface to her, the entertainment center, and fished the corkscrew out of the plastic bag. Using her leverage, she successfully drilled the screw into the cork and pulled it out with a pop. The bittersweet mix of the rum stopped Pandora for a moment. She wasn't taking it in, rather debating on whether or not she should drink the liquid. But with a thorough listing of pros and cons, her conclusion was to say, "Fuck it."

She grabbed the bottle off the stand with two hands and took three large gulps.

\---

2006

"Ben you have to sit still," Pandora whispered as she focused on painting his wrist. They were both sitting cross-legged on Pandora's bed, knees touching. Her head was tilted down towards Bens' wrist, putting her in an awkward slouching position she knew she'd regret the next day. The painting was on his right forearm, covering up the Umbrella Academy tattoo like Ben requested.

Ben nodded in response and looked at Pandora lovingly. He noticed the way the lamp on her bedside table hit her features, sculpting her jaw and cheekbones in shadow while illuminating the rest. Her bangs fell in a curve on her forehead, slightly ruffled from all the running around. Her hair was only now long enough to fit into a small ponytail, something that she was very excited to show Ben a few weeks ago.

Pandora glanced up at him when he stayed quiet for more than a minute and saw Ben staring at her. "Did I get paint on my face?" She asked, sitting up straight.

"No, it's something else," Ben whispered, leaning in closer to Pandora. He tilted his head to the right, a few centimeters away from Pandora's lips when the door opened rather quickly.

"Give me back my straig-, why is Ben here?" Marin questioned, staying in the doorway of her sisters room. Ben nervously tried to get up to move but Pandora pulled him back to his original position, he had no reason to leave yet.

"Your straightener is in my duffel bag, you can get it and leave," Pandora said.

"You didn't answer my question," Marin pushed.

Pandora sighed and lifted up the container she was keeping her paint in. "I'm painting Ben, it's none of your business Marin."

"That's some weird foreplay but if you're into it-"

Pandora set down her paintbrush and hurled three tubes of paint at Marin but the door was closed by the time they reached the other side of the room. Not half a minute later Marin popped back in and chucked a small box at them. The box hit Ben's head and landed in Pandora's lap.

"Be safe," Marin said, quickly grabbing her straightener and leaving.

"Uh," Ben began, picking up the box that was revealed to contain condoms, "Where'd she even get these?"

"I don't even know," Pandora sighed, grabbing the box and throwing them to the foot of her bed next to the sack of new clothes for Ben. She grabbed the small tipped paint brush she was using before and continued to work on Ben's arm only to notice that multiple trees had been smudged on the painting.

Pandora sighed and looked up to see Ben shrug, "It was a 'happy little mistake.'"

\---

Present Day

Pandora wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and dropped the empty bottle of rum on the floor. The bottle bounced on the carpet and rolled under the coffee table for her to find at some other point in time. She burped and stumbled onto the couch to regain some control.

The hour and half leading up to this point had been a trainwreck to say the least. Not only was Pandora eager for the taste apart of her had desired for years, but her stomach was completely empty. On top of her small stature this meant she was getting to the point of tipsy very quickly, drunkenness not far behind. She talked to herself a lot, and out loud. There was a lot of name calling specifically to her sister, Diego, and Klaus which eventually led to her state now - on and off crying.

When sitting down on the couch, Pandora was determined to see Ben. Believe it or not she took did take in the fact that her body would deteriorate, but she didn't care. If she died, she died, at least she'd be with Ben, the only person she wanted to see, the only person she wanted to be with. She relaxed into the couch cushions and took a deep inhale.

But on the exhale, nothing happened.

She patted herself down confused, trying to relax again in an attempt to use her powers, but everything stayed the same.

"No, no, no," Pandora muttered to herself, adjusting her multiple times to various different positions to just leave. She was crying harder than she had before, definitely not helping her need to focus on her powers. Pandora got up and attempted to use a soul hold on herself, seeing if her soul transfer was the only thing she wasn't able to perform.

It wasn't.

She hovered her hand over her chest and tensed up her hands in an attempt to get it working but she instead fell to the ground, her vision blurry with tears instead of blood.

Pandora tried everything for what seemed like hours, halfway trying things she's seen in movies and new various waves of her hands to try and do something. But she gave up, falling to her knees and yelling, her cry echoing louder and louder throughout the apartment and turning into a blank white noise. Multiple gusts of wind circled around her, slamming open all the windows from both floors. The wind quickly turned into something greater, a green whirl of mist and what appeared to be lost souls, injured, malicious, at rest, circled Pandora. Thousands of them were screeching and reaching out to Pandora. Her tears were beginning to mix with the heavy amount of blood leaking out her eyes, nostrils, and ears. Pandora, her eyes still shut and blurry, reached up to her face to wipe her tears but instead smeared blood over her cheeks and chin. Tasting the iron in her mouth, Pandora opened her mouth to see the green storm that she presumably was creating

Panicking, she stood up, and looked at her blood stained shirt and hands. She nearly screamed in horror until she saw a light figure a few feet in front of her. As the figure took shape quicker and quicker she was no longer scared. She began to focus all of her energy on the figure, the storm of souls bleeding into the circle they created. The fog moved past her in a blur and went straight to the figure, lifting Pandora up off the ground. She focused on the figure, now laying in the midst of the souls with blood seeping out heavier than it had before. The souls started moving faster around where the figure was in a tornado like fashion, sucking in energy, making everything in Pandora's living room move closer in a wreck.

Suddenly Pandora dropped back to her feet, the souls and the green mist vanishing around her and the figure. Her breathing slowed at the sight she created, all 5'9" of him.

"I told you I'd be back," Ben said with a smile. Pandora, overwhelmed and not aware of the oncoming dizziness, smiled and laughed, happy tears forming at her eyes. She moved forward towards Ben but instead her entire body went limp as she passed out. Her head hit the coffee table on the way down, causing her to seize on her own living room floor. The blood that had stopped when the souls had left, came back in the same places with the addition on blood clogging her esophagus. Ben rushed to her side, unsure of what to do without the proper supplies. "Hang on Love, you're lungs are filling up and I need you told hold on while I get help okay?"

Pandora didn't respond, she was still mildly unconscious but Ben still talked to her. "HELP," Ben yelled between every few sentences. He couldn't do anything and he didn't want to leave Pandora to call an ambulance. Ben shed a tear as he tried to sit Pandora up, "I just got back don't leave, please."

The door burst open as Marin came in confused as to why she heard yelling from upstairs.

But then she saw her sister.

And him over her.

"Ben?"

-

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WEDNESDAY (Again)

Klaus interrupted with, "Hold on. Hold the phone. We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?"

"Klaus, is shockingly right. What gives us a win this time?" Diego said.

A large flash and bang of electricity startled everyone in the living area.

"Je - Jesus!" Allison yelled, backing up from Five as he popped through his time portal. Pandora moved back into the group and away from where she disposed of her cup of coffee. He was laying down on a familiar briefcase on top of the bow very dusty bar.

"You guys, am I still high, or do you see him too?" Klaus asked.

"Definitely not high," Pandora said in disbelief.

Five slowly began to roll of the briefcase, wincing with his movements. Without missing a heartbeat Luther said, "Five, where have you been?" Like a concerned strict parent.

Allison, Luther, and Pandora crowded around him in an attempt to catch him from falling onto the floor. "Are you alright?" Pandora asked.

"Who did this?" Luther asked, concerned.

Five sat up and got on the barstool, grabbing Allison's coffee. "Irrelevant," he spoke, standing up and getting away from the crowd to slurp down the rest of the coffee in the cup. The group stared at him in awe and worry. Five took his mouth off the coffee cup and turned back around with a limp, "So, the apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save our is, well, us."

"The Umbrella Academy," Luther mumbled.

"Yes, but with me, obviously," Five said harshly, "So if y'all don't get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed. Who cares if Dad messes us up? Are we gonna let that define us? No. And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead." Five held up a yellowed folded piece of paper to the group. "I know who's responsible for the apocalypse."

He gave the paper to Pandora who quickly unfolded it. "This is who we have to stop," Five finished.

In the middle of the paper read a single sentence, "Reassignment: Protect Harold Jenkins."

"Harold Jenkins?" Pandora asked.

"Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?"


	8. // chapter seven : the day that was //

2006

Pandora is not sure how and she never figured out how, but her mother with the help of the Hargreeves kids had managed to convince Sir Reignald to let them have an overnighter, in exchange for extra training and no free time for two weeks. Although, the one detail that her mother and the kids had purposefully left out that they had been planning a prom-like event. Suits, dresses, and all.

"Pandora, who are you taking?" The question that Allison had bugged her with all week, but still refused to answer.

"Allsion, we don't bring dates," Pandora responded, searching through the racks of dresses. "How about this dress?" she pulled a dark green dress out of the racks

"It doesn't compliment your eyes," Klaus answered, emerging from another section of dresses, "You need a coral or a bronze for your eye color, like this," He handed her a bronze colored dress.

"I'm not a fan of the design, or the color," Pandora answered, then put the dress back on the rack.

"I like that dress, though I'm going to try it on," Marin said, then took the dress and draped it over her arm along with five other dresses "You know, Ben's thinking blue, or black." She said, dropping her voice so no one else could hear.

"Ugh, not black. We wear black all the time with those god awful fight suits that Reignald makes us wear on missions," Pandora whispered, "Besides, Ben said that I choose the colors with my dress. Besides, where is Ben?"

"With Diego, they went to go find the food court so we can eat when you're all done," Klaus answered, "He's trying to keep the low key thing happening cause Allison's on high alert right now. How's this?" Klaus held up a light coral dress.

"You know, that one just might be the one," Pandora smiled, then took the dress.

...

Five took a gulp out of the last bit of the coffee that was left in the cup and hurled it towards the back of the room, "I don't know... yet."

They all looked up from the paper that everyone but Five was crowded around that printed out in big bold letters: PROTECT HAROLD JENKINS.

"But I do know that he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him, and we have to find him now," Five continued.

"How is he connected to what's going to happen?" Luther asked.

"I don't know," Five responded.

"Wait, so you just know his name?" Diego jutted in, moving towards the front of the group, "That's it? There's probably dozens of Jenkinses."

"Well, we better start looking then," Five responded, shifting uncomfortably in his shoes.

"Well, where do we even start? What would we do when we find this Harold Jenkins?" Pandora asked.

"I mean like, how exactly do you know all of this about what's his name?" Diego added.

"Harold Jenkins," Five corrected, frustration entering into his tone, "You know those lunatics in masks who attacked the house?"

"Oh yeah, I think I remember those guys," Klaus said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, the ones that attacked us while you were getting drunk," Diego spoke sarcastically.

"Yeah, them," Klaus mumbled as he sat down on a nearby couch.

"They were sent by the Temps Commision to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life on earth," Five explained.

"The temps of what?" Allison questioned.

"My former employee. They monitor time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen, happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days. So I went to the commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics. 'Protect Harold Jenkins'. So he must be responsible for the apocalypse."

The group stayed silent for just a moment absorbing what Five had said, before erupting into a cluster of angry questions demanding answers.

"Do you know how insane this sounds?" Allison asked.

"You know what else is insane?" Five asked, gripping his side, "I look like a thirteen year old boy, Klaus talks to the dead, Luther thinks he's fooling everyone with that overcoat, and Pandora is still with Ben. Everything about us is insane. It always has been."

"He's got a point there," Klaus commented.

"We didn't choose this life. We're just living it. For the next three days anyways."

"But the last time we tried to stop it, we all died. Why is this any different? Why shouldn't I go home from my daughter?" Allison said.

"Because this time, I'm here. We have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people. Including Claire."

Allison's head perked up, her eyebrows drawing close together, "You know her name?"

"I do, and I'd like to live long enough to meet her."

"All right," Diego nodded.

"Let's get this bastard," Allison stated.

"You had me at Gerald Jenkins," Diego spoke.

"Harold Jenkins," Five corrected.

"Whatever. I've already lost two people this week, I'm not losing anyone else," Diego started towards the door.

"Luther?"

"You go, I'm going to stay and go though Dad's files. I still think this has something to do with why he sent me to the Moon," Luther shook his head.

"Seriously? You want to make the end of the world about you and Dad?" Diego asked in disbelief.

"No, 'Watch for threats'. That's what he told me," Luther defended, "You think that's a coincidence? This all has to be connected somehow."

"He has the right to trust his gut just like any of us. If he thinks Reignald has a link to the Apocalypse, then this might actually help us," Pandora spoke up.

"No, we should all stick together," Allison argued.

"No, we don't have time for this," Five jutted in, "Pandora, what's your stance?"

"I'll stick here, watch over the house. I don't know if Hazel and Cha Cha will come back," Pandora said.

"Let's roll then. I know where I can find this asshole. Klaus, you're with me," Diego spoke up then nodded towards the door.

"Yeah, I--I'm good. I'll just stick with Pandora cause buddy system you know? We work well together. I think I'll.... I'm just feeling under the weather," Klaus stood up, walking past all of them.

"If they come back, you know what to do Pandora," Five said, then they all separated.

"Will you need any help Luther with finding any of reignalds research?" Pandora asked, turning towards him.

"No, I'll just do it myself. Thank you," Luther responded, shaking his head.

"Alright, if you ever need help, just shout out. We're in the same house after all," Pandora siad, back stepping towards the stairs, "I'm going to quickly check up on Klaus. Cause you know, buddy system."

Pandora could think of three locations right off the bat where she thought Kalus could be in the house.

1) His room. She knocked, then opened the door, she saw no klaus in sight.

2) The bathroom. Same process, no Klaus in the tub.

3) The Attic. As she opened the attic door, she saw Klaus scrounging round, searching through supplies, cursing to himself.

"What are you looking for, Klaus?" Pandora questioned, stepping into the attic.

"Rope."

"Who are you summoning?" It came out more as a mothers demand rather than a question.

"Oh, you know, just dear old dad. Luther wanted to talk to him, ask him some questions because you know how he was a couple of days ago-," Klaus started, finally finding his rope.

"Klaus," Pandora pressed, sighing softly, "Please tell me what's happening. What's their name?"  
Klaus pressed his lips together, "His name was Dave. I met him during the War while I was gone and... he died. Ever since I came back, I thought how unfair it was that you could just visit Ben when ever you wanted to. I thought that if that if I get sober enough, I could see Dave again."

"So you're tying yourself up to get sober?" Pandora asked, "There's better ways to get sober Klaus."

"I need my options taken away Pandora. Could you do that soul hold thingie?"

"No, you know I could never do the soul hold on anybody in the academy, especially you Klaus," Pandora shook her head.

"Then could you tie me up?" Klaus asked, pushing the bundle of rope into Pandora's hands.

"I don't know how to tie people up." Pandora said, "I never had to learn because I could just hold them down. Ben knew how to tie people up."

"That's weird, let's ask Luther," Klaus concluded, then moved past her. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they saw Luther stumbling across the living room pouring himself a glass of alcohol. "Luther! Luther I need you to tie me up so I can- Are you Drinking?"

"Holy shit he's drunk," Pandora cursed under her breath watching Luther set down his glass, seeing the smashed liquor cabinet in the corner.

"Not to mention, he busted Dad's Liquor cabinet. He's gonna be so pissed!" Klaus laughed.

"Get him," Luther slurred, turning to the both of them, "Dad. Do it, Now."

Klaus sighed, adjusting the rope on his shoulders, "I told you already, I-- I can't!"

Luther leaned forward, grabbing Klaus by the throat, slamming him against a nearby column, "Little shit!"

"Luther, no!" Pandora shouted, grabbing Luther's arm, "Please Luther, Let him go!" Pandora slammed her hand against his side, blue energy through her hands. Luther dropped Klaus on the floor, clutching his side while taking several steps backwards, "What is wrong with you?"

"Jesus Christ, Luther," Klaus said, getting up while Luther crossed the room away from them, "Of course I tried! All right? God knows, I've tried, but he is as he was in life, he's a stubborn prick!"

"He needs to answer to me for what he did," Luther said, "For sending me up there. I sacrificed everything for him, my entire life. I never left this house. I never had friends. And for what? For nothing."

"Oh, no, no, no, no," Klaus shook his head as Luther sat down on a nearby couch, "Hey, just... just... just relax, okay? Just-- Just relax. I-- I could try again. I mean, I can't promise I'm clean enough. But just--," Luther took another gulp out oh his glass.

"Hey, this isn't solving anything, trust me. Let's get rid of that," Pandora gently eased the glass out of Luther's hands and set the glass on the counter as Klaus sat next to him.

"Chin up, big guy," Klaus said, softly punching Luther in the shoulder.

"It's okay, just go," Luther said.

"Why don't we find the others? I'm sure Allison could help."

"I don't want her. I don't want them to see me like this," Luther shook his head, "Besides I-- I would just hold them back. What they're doing is too important."

"What are you talking about?" Klaus asked, "You're our number one, remember? 'O Captain, My Captain!'" Luther laughed in response, "Remember? Yeah, right?" They sat laughing for a short moment. Luther's laughter quickly transformed into sobs, pressing his forehead against Klaus's shoulder. Klaus awkwardly reached over Luther, patting his shoulder in an attempt to cheer him up as he looked back at Pandora for help.

"You know, Diego was right," Luther mumbled, "Dad sent me up to the Moon, because he couldn't stand the sight of this. Of what... of what he did to me. Of what I had become."

"No, no, no. That's... That's not... Damn it, Dad was an asshole right to the end," Klaus concluded.

"Reinald did messed up shit to all of us," Pandora shook her head.

"You know, if there's anything else that either Pandora and I can do or...," Klaus started.

"I wanna be like you," Luther interrupted, "I wanna do whatever it is you do."

"No, no, no, no."

"Yeah, I do, yeah."

"You don't. Absolutely not."

"Come on Klaus. Cause you, Cause you seem so carefree, and I just need it. I wanna be number four."

"Luther, you're drunk. You don't know what you want or you don't," Pandora shook her head.

"Trust me. Trust me. You don't want that," Klaus continued, pressing his point, "You don't want that. What you need is just to lay down, sleep it off. You'll feel better in the morning. Okay?"

"Fine, I'll go by myself," Luther said, then stood up from the couch.

"Luther, you better sit your ass back down on the couch," Pandora said, pushing herself off the counter, both her and Klaus rushed up to Luther, only to get smacked back onto the ground. Ache shot up Pandora's ribs and back as she landed, the opening and closing of the front door following.

"Shit, we're really going to have to go find him, huh?" Pandora groaning, holding onto her ribs.

"If the end of the world is really coming in three days, then best to go find Luther," Klaus said.

...

"Come on Klaus, we have to find Luther. He needs us," Pandora said, trekking through smell crowds of people, pulling her jacket closer to her as Klaus followed just a few steps behind her.

Klaus sighed, groaning a bit as he doubled over. Pandora backed up a few steps to meet him. "I just... This is so pointless. Ah, I'm going home. I have to go home. I'm so dope sick," Klaus started, then turned around and stopped as Pandora set her hand on his shoulder. "You know, I know you can't see Ben right now but he's standing right in front of me and I don't think he realizes that I can just... walk through him," Klaus demonstrated as he walked several feet, waving his hands a bit as he did so.

"I think he does know that Klaus. C'mon, you need to keep trying. For Luther's sake," Pandora tried.

"He could be anywhere right now, doing God knows what," Klaus excused, "You know what? This is probably a good thing! The big guy needs a life, and tonight he's out experiencing the real world!"

"We both know he's not ready for that."

"Well, who is? Was I? Were either of you?" Klaus paused, "I-- I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know you weren't ready to die violently at a young age, that you were at the butt end of that tragedy," Klaus shook his head and covered his face with one of his hands, "Oh, sobriety isn't easy."

"You're just learning that now?" Pandora asked rhetorically.

Klaus looked up at the empty space next to Pandora, "What? Why are you looking at me that way?" He looked at Pandora for a moment for help, "He's doing that stupid face again. It's not my responsibility. I--I didn't sign up to save Luther or Ben."

"None of us did Klaus," Pandora said, a moment of silence passed, Ben must have been speaking.

Klaus sighed again, squeezing his eyes shut before opening his eyes up again, "Damn it," He muttered.

"Come on then, let's go find Luther," Pandora said, continuing to walk, making sure that Klaus was following.

"We've been to seven bars, three strip joints, and a laundromat," Klaus listed, "Luther's not here, can we go home now?"

"Last time I checked, it was your idea to go find Luther," Pandora said, "We just have to look through a couple more places."

"That's the biggest, hairy guy that I've ever seen!" The voice emitted from a group of women that passed by them. Pandora looked back at klaus with a raised eyebrow, turning their heads to see a building, blaring loud music from the inside.

"Great, a rave of all places," Klaus replied sarcastically. They walked up to the building, letting themselves in. they were instantly met with awful music, flashing lights, and terrible dancing.

"Ah shit, I'm too old for this," Pandora said as she pushed through the crowd, Klaus clamping this hands over his ears, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Klaus called over the music, "Is that Luther?" Pandora turned her head towards the stage area, along with many other people, was Luther dancing. He had his shirt off ad he wasn't attempting to hide anything like he was just a couple of days ago, "Do you think he knows?"

"I don't think he cares!" Pandora called back.

"Pandora! Klaus!" Luther called from the stage with a huge smile on his face, scooping them both into a hug, letting go of both of them, "Isn't this amazing?"

"It is, c'mon we need to get you home!" Pandora said, grabbing onto Luther's arm, attempting to pull him towards the exit.

"Home? This is my home now!" Luther answered. Pandora sighed in defeat, dropping Luther's arm as soon as another Woman had approached them, "See? Have you ever tried one of these?" Luther held up a tiny pill with a cartoonish symbol on it, "I've never felt more alive! But I'm so thirsty!"

Klaus grabbed the pill out of Luther's hand, then threw it across the room.

"Why did you do that?" Luther questioned.

"I have no idea!" Klaus responded.

"Klaus, are you alright?" Pandora pressed as Klaus ran his hands through his hair before covering his ears. "Hey bud, I'm right here. Let's find you somewhere to it down!" She scanned the area, but the only place that wasn't ransacked in people yet was an empty spot but the corner of the stage. She ushered Klaus to the corner, sitting him down "Hey, look at me. Breathe, breathe. Stay here, It's going to be okay, if you need to leave please let me know and I'll get you out of here as fast as possible. I'm going to get Luther then we will be out of here."

She stood up, moving towards Luther for the second time, "Luther, we need to leave now."

"I already told you Pandora, I'm not leaving!" Luther responded.

"This isn't your home Luther, your actual home and your siblings are waiting and counting on you. Are you just going to ignore the reason why Five came back?" Pandora asked rhetorically. Luther didn't respond, instead focusing more on the dancing.

A shout ripped through the music, as Pandora turned her head she saw Klaus attacking another person in the club, jumping on their back as he hit them on the head with his fists.

"Luther!" Klaus shouted, trying to get his brother's attention right before the back he was attacking flipped Klaus on his back, Klaus's head smacking the pavement.

In one swift movement, Pandora struck the man across the face, he crumbled to the ground as Pandora rushed over to Klaus. Klaus was still on the ground, his eyes closed, unresponsive.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Klaus you gotta wake up buddy," She repeated as she rolled klaus over on his back. Pandora pressed her pointer and middle finger against the side of his neck. No pulse. She pressed her ear against the left side of his upper chest. No heartbeat.

"Ma'am, do you-," The two men behind the man she stuck lurched towards her, she flicked up her hand, sending the two men backwards into the crowd.

She pressed her hands against the center of his chest, pushing up and down 30 times before pressing her mouth on his, forcing air into his lungs, "Wake up Klaus goddamnit," She repeated the same process. "Wake up!" Tears pooled into her eyes "NO, no no, don't you dare give up on me, I have a chance to save you!" She repeated the progress, "C'mon klaus I can't lose you too!" The compressions are replaced with Pandora's fist slamming on Klaus's chest, tears streaming down her face. "Wake! UP!"

Klaus shot up into a sitting position, gasping for air, trying to get his bearings, "Oh my God, Klaus!" Pandora gasped, hugging him tightly, "Oh my god you scared me so goddamn much, I thought I lost you!" The words coming out of her mouth quickly morphed into sobs. Klaus hesitated for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her.

"Pandora your eyes-," Klaus started as they both got up off the floor.

"We're leaving, I don't know where Luther is and I don't want to be here anymore," Pandora sniffled, grabbing his arm before they left the building.

The cool air hit her face as they stepped out of the building, walking down the same alley they used to enter into the building.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Pandora whispered, nodding for her own well-being rather than Klaus's. She shakily wrapped her jacket around herself, Klaus's arms doing the same as he held her while she wept.


	9. // chapter eight : i heard a rumor //

Prom Night, 2006

Ben sighed as he watched his brothers, Luther and Diego, fighting about something that had no real meaning. "Can they go at least one night without trying to rip each other's throats out?" Ben asked, crossing his arms as Pandora leaned her back against a wall.

"It's Luther and Diego, what did you expect? They can't even stop, not for prom night and not for anything else. Quite frankly I think your dad made Diego number two because he knew there was going to be tension between them," Pandora replied.

"Well, I don't know about that," Ben said as Allison intervened between Luther and Diego.

"I heard a rumor...."

"God, I hate it when she uses her powers," Pandora subtly shook her head, murmuring, "feel gross after just watching it happen."

The two sat there in silence, watching Luther and Diego become calm, their eyes quickly becoming cloudy as they walk away from one another. Allison stood there for a moment watching them before a boy came up and offered his hand to her, not much else seemed to be intriguing. "Do you want to get out of here?" Ben asked, "Marin and Vanya left 45 minutes ago."

"After what just happened? Yeah I will," Pandora said, pushing herself off the wall, "Let's go before anything else disastrous happens."

Pandora walked the edge of the room, Ben following right behind her as they slipped out through the front door. The cool night air hit then instantly, cooling them down in just a matter of seconds. "Where do you think Marin and Vanya went?" Pandora questioned as they traveled down the side streets, one of her hands engulfed in Ben's and the other holding up her dress to keep it from touching the grimy streets. The sidewalk glistened from the lamp posts above, a blanket of dark blue coating the sky as the moon shone down on them. People passed by them, often paying them no attention as they walked.

"Have we ever figured that out?" Ben asked back.

"True, I guess we've never really had to keep a tab on them," Pandora said, "I would almost say they're lucky."

"Why say that?"

"Because they don't have to deal with any of this Academy bullshit. I mean like, Marin and I aren't technically twins, I'm just her slightly younger sister, and somehow I got powers. This is the only night that we get to be teenagers cause your dad is using us as his own personal police force... I mean like, does your father even think of anything else besides our powers and how we can improve and better use them kind of bullshit?"

"I don't think Dad even views us as kids," Ben commented, pressing the walk button on the traffic light pole. The two stood next to each other and watched all the cars passing by, the headlights further illuminating their figures. Pandora rubbed Ben's thumb with her own, getting more nervous by the second while she contemplated asking her next question.

"Ben," Pandora started, her eyes still fixated on the moving cars, "Once we're eighteen, do you want to drop this superhero bullshit and just... get out of here?"

They both turned to look at one another at the same time, the answer written across their expressions, "You don't have to ask that Pandora, you already know the answer," Ben said "Of course I will."

...

Present

"Oh Panndoraaa!" Klaus called in a sing songy tone, followed by what sounded like a cowbell ringing loudly in the living room. Pandora sucked in a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, the feeling of stained tears on her cheeks and chin. "It's morning! No need to go back to your apartment, though I already broke in and got you your clothes. I locked the door behind me don't worry."

"Wait wh-" Pandora was cut off by clothes falling on her face, it was a yellow sweater and the blue stone washed jeans Klaus had helped her pick out a few years ago when Pandora was trying to distract Klaus from delving back into his drug habits.

It worked for about 5 hours.

Klaus left the room, but not before reminding Pandora that they're going to have a family meeting in the kitchen in 10 minutes. Pandora took the once folded clothes and set them down on the floor, sitting up on the couch. She yawned slightly before shaking herself awake and walking to the bathroom to make herself somewhat presentable, but the only thing she could really do was smooth out her hair a bit and rub the sleep out of her eyes.

When she exited the bathroom, her clothes from the other night stuffed into a bag she had found under the bathroom sink in her hand, she saw Klaus pass looking very giddy as he headed down to the kitchen. Pandora peered at him with a watchful eye, unsure of how quickly his mood had changed from the night before. Memories of his incident came flooding back in bits and pieces.

"Wake up Klaus goddamnit," She repeated the same process. "Wake up!" Tears pooled into her eyes, "NO, no no, don't you dare give up on me, I have a chance to save you!"

Pandora closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself before she left to meet the others.

Five was already in the kitchen with Klaus, wearing blue silk pajamas instead of the school boy esque uniform. The table mats were on the table, set up for four other people besides the three in the kitchen. Klaus was boiling water on the stove while Five was staring at the kettle with a glare that seemed to pierce right through anything that it landed on, Pandora steered away from starting a conversation with him for now.

The big hulking mass that is Luther Hargreeves entered the room, however, it was clear to everyone he was very hungover. His normal confident, straight and rigid stance had turned into a slouched one, a hoodie he didn't normally have on dawning his torso, casting a dark shadow across his worn and conflicted face. He refused to make eye contact with anyone when he walked in the room, his eyes and gaze painted in guilt as he sat down and rested his head in his hands. He grabbed one of the ceramic mugs Klaus had put down to check if anything was in there but low and behold, it was empty.

"Where is everyone else?" Pandora questioned, she had forgotten how uncomfortable the chairs were in the kitchen.

"Well, you see, I don't know.' Klaus turned off the stove and walked over to Luther with a spring in his step and a pot of coffee, filling the mug up. "Here we go. This'll fix ya," Klaus said with genuine concern for his brother, moving to fill up Pandora's cup, she hummed in appreciation. Impatient, Five took Luther's cup from his hands and eagerly took a swig. This proved to be the wrong move with the sudden look of disgust plaguing his face, "Jesus, who do I have to kill to get a decent cup of coffee."

"Can we get started please?" Luther asked gazing down at the blank mat that sat in front of him. A small cup of coffee slid into his view, causing him to look up.

Pandora's hands retracted back into her lap as she met Luther's gaze. "You can have it, you need to this more than I do," Pandora said generously, followed by a small yawn and smile before returning her attention to Klaus.

Luther looked at the cup and pursed his lips, "Thank you, Pandora," he responded, sipping lightly on the black coffee.

"Anyone seen any of the others? Diego? Allison? No?" Klaus asked without giving anyone any time to respond. "Alright then this is the closest thing to a quorum," Klaus proceeded to grab a metal spatula on the table, causing Luther to wince, "... that we're gonna get. Now, listen up. There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out." He took in a deep breath and said a small, "Yeah," as if he was responding to someone. Pandora glanced to the empty seat next to her, wondering if Ben had told him something.

Silence filled the room before the three eventually had to check if Klaus was still with them. Luther urging, "Klaus," seemed to snap him back to reality.

"I conjured dad last night." Once again silence filled the room as Luther, Five, and Pandora glanced at each other in confusion and intrigue.

"I thought you said you haven't been able to conjure anyone in years," Luther asked.

"Well I mean, he was high... Like a good chunk of the time," Pandora answered, Luther's brow was still quirked.

"Hey!" Klaus said with a faint trace of betrayal in his voice. Pandora shrugged and played with the end of the frying table mat before her. "I- I'm sober now, ta-da! I got clean yesterday, to talk to someone... special and then ended up having this... conversation with dear old Daddy himself."

"C'mon klaus I can't lose you too!" The compressions are replaced with Pandora's fist slamming on Klaus's chest, tears streaming down her face. "Wake! UP!"

Pandora sighed and squeezed her eyes shut then opened them yet again, rubbing her slightly sore fist. She notices that there was freckles of blue and purple on the sides. Five gave up the spot where the aspirin was kept to Luther.

"Hey, hey, this is serious guys. This really happened, I swear," Klaus urged.

Five finally decided to speak up, "Okay, fine, I'll play, what did the old man have to say?" He gave a closed off smile as he finished his question.

"Well, he gave me to usual lecture about my appearance and my failures in life, yada yada yada. No surprise there. Even the afterlife couldn't soften a hardass like Dad, right? But he did mention something about this murder, or lack thereof, " Both Luther and five perked up at the mention of the possible solution to the mystery of the murder. "Because... he killed himself," Klaus explained, coming to a solemn whisper at the end.

"Well, Shit," Pandora whispered, breaking the awkward tension in the room.

Luther rolled his eyes and warned, "I don't have time for your games, Klaus."

Exasperated, Luther stood up from his seat but Klaus was able to stop him from moving any further, "No, no, I'm telling you the truth, Luther. I'm telling you the truth."

"Why'd he do it then?" Five asked for the first time without an ounce of sarcasm.

"He said it was the only way to get us all home again," Klaus explained further.

"No, dad wouldn't just kill himself," Luther said.

Pandora shrugged, backing Klaus by mentioning, "You did say he was depressed Luther, that's... it isn't out of pla-,"

"No. There weren't any signs. Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviors."

"Like, sending someone to the moon for no reason?" Klaus asked, furthering his point.

"How would you know if there were signs Luther? You were on a different planet for years," Pandora spoke.

Luther clenched his jaw and shifted uncomfortably, "I swear to God, Klaus, if you're lying..."

"I'm not, I'm not," Klaus spoke truthfully.

A new voice piped up in the conversation, "Master Klaus is correct," they said. Everyone's head turned to see Pogo walking in, the tapping of his cane against the wooden floor coming to a halt. "Regretfully... I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan."

"What?" Luther said, sounding more like a statement rather than a question, it was obvious that this news deeply affected him.

"So did Grace, it was a difficult choice for both of us, more difficult than you could ever know," Pogo said sighing once more, "Prior to your father's death, Graces programming was adjusted so that she was incapable of administering first aid on that fateful night."

"Sick bastard," Five commented, his stature and body language different from the rest. He didn't appear to be in shock, more so disappointed and disgusted.

"So the security tape we saw..." Luther trailed off.

"It was meant to further the murder mystery," Pogo answered.

Luther sighed heavily and squeezed his eyes shut, his body was obviously struggling with filtering out the drugs and alcohol he had consumed last night and hearing the big reveal about his Father's death obviously wasn't helping.

"Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together, Would reignite your desire to be a team again." Pogo continued. Klaus slightly resting his full body weight on the table and looks down, disappointed and upset.

"And to what end?" Five questioned.

"To save the world, of course."

Klaus let out several nervous laughs, unsure of what to do, "All right."

"First the moon mission and now this," Luther turned towards Pogo, "You watched me search for answers and said nothing," Pogo cast his eyes towards the ground. Pandora had never actually seen Pogo cry, she never knew he was capable of it, but she could wear there were tears lining his eyes as he looked back up at Luther. "Anything else you want to share, Pogo? Any other damn secrets?"

"Luther..." Pandora started.

"Hey, calm down, Luther," Klaus said.

"No I won't calm down, we've been lied to by the one person in this family we all trusted." Luther stabbed.

"It was your father's dying wish, Master Luther, I... I had no choice," Pogo defended himself.

Luther walked up to Pogo, towering him, "There's always, a choice," Luther then proceeded to walk out of the room.

Pogo glanced at the remaining people in the kitchen before he himself left the room.

Five sat at the table, gripping his hair several times "I gotta think," Five mumbled, then disappeared in a wave of blue light.

Pandora sat, crossing her arms across her chest, staring at the coffee mugs that sat on the table top. "Well," She started, then looked up at Klaus. "What now?

...

"No Klaus you're doing it all incorrectly, and quite frankly, you're making it harder for yourself. Where did you even get these needles and yarn anyways?" Pandora asked him as she took the ball of yarn and knitting needles from him.

"In Ben's room, I think you lost them there," Klaus said, then sat up from the position he was in earlier. "Knitting is hard, I don't know how you do it for fun," he complained.

After the disaster at breakfast, everyone went their separate ways, needing their own space to think. Pandora landed in Klaus's room not long after the eventful morning, having nothing really to do in the first place.

"Knitting isn't that hard, you just follow a pattern and you need to know when to start. You're just being unreachable," Pandora said, "Here. First you make a slip knot for the first cast. Then you hold the slip knot and your needle in your right hand," She continued to explain, demonstrating to Klaus as she went. "Now, you have your first row. You try." She handed the needles to Klaus, stumbling his way through the first series of stitches.

After a few moments of silence passed, Klaus concentrating on the stitches "I think I finally get it now, Pandora."

"Almost, they're a little tight, you won't want them too tight because that will keep you from advancing to the next row. You're doing very well on the stitches-"

"No, on losing someone that was close to you," Klaus corrected, going a little silent as he finished his statement, "I never really got it, when Ben died, why it was so hard on you when he was gone. But I get it now."

"Oh," Pandora responded softly.

"The night I disappeared, I was transported I guess, back to Vietnam. I didn't mind the scenery cause Dave was there. God, I have never met anyone who meant so much to me, he was so beautiful, and then the war took him from me." A few more moments of silence passed as Pandora reached over and grabbed his hand.

"Dave was the one you tried to summon instead of your dad, huh?" Pandora asked, Klaus nodded in response.

A series of knocks on Klaus's door made them jump, pandora letting go of Klaus's hand as Five walked into the room. "Hey. Get up. We're going," He said, half informing have commanding.

"Where?" Klaus asked.

"To save the World," He jammed his hands into his pockets.

"Oh, is that all. Great," Klaus sighed, then got up from his bed.

"Will we need anything?" Pandora asked as she got up as well.

"Not that I am aware of," Five responded, "So, Pogo said Dad Killed himself to get us all back together, right?

"Yeah, so?" Pandora said.

"It got me thinking. I had to jump to the future to figure out when it happened, but Dad, he can't time travel. So how'd the crazy bastard actually know to kill himself a week before the end of the world?"

"Reginald has always somehow known about stuff that's going to happen. Like how did he know where to find all of you guys?" Pandora shook her head.

"Well, you know-" Klaus started as he pulled on some socks.

"Don't answer Klaus, that was purely rhetorical for your side," Five interrupted, "Truth is, our entire lives, he's been telling us we'd save the world from an impending apocalypse."

"Yeah, I always thought he said that to scare us into doing the dishes," Klaus said, pulling on shoes as well.

"Me too. But what if the old man really knew it was going to happen."

"Yeah, but knew how?" Pandora said.

"No idea," Five responded, "But the fact remains, his fakakta plan worked. We all came home, including Pandora. We're here, we might as well save the world."

"Oh yeah? What, like, the three of us?"

"Uh, well, ideally it would be Pandora and I between the three of us, but we gotta work with what we got," Five said as they all walked out of the room, pass diego as he ran into his own room, "Where have you been?"

"Jail," Diego said as he ran passed them, "Long story. Where's Luther?"

"We haven't seen him since breakfast, he's really upset," Pandora said.

"Yeah. Two days before the world ends and he picks a great time to drop off the grid. Shit," he started to strap on clothing that held extra knives, "Allison's in danger."

...

The boys had entered into the bar before Pandora, scanning the area for Luther. As Pandora passed through the door, her eye caught the missing sign of Helen Cho, wondering if she had seen her before they went into the establishment.

Luther was sitting all by himself at a table, it wasn't hard to spot him, seeing he was clearly the largest person in that bar.

"Trying a little hair of the dog are we? Hm?" Klaus asked.

"Leave me alone," Luther responded.

"Will you give us a minute?" Diego asked, then motioned Five, Pandora, and Klaus to step back.

"Okay. Come On. Maybe they'll brood each other to death," Klaus commented, taking several steps back but making no effort to sit down. Pandora sat on one of the tables, crossing her arms as she watched the scene carefully, knowing how some of these situations with Luther and Diego usually end.

"Look, dad was wrong to lie to you. To all of us," Diego started, but was quickly interrupted.

"Look, I did my time. All right? Four years up there, watching and waiting because he said the world needed me. Four years of nothing but soy paste and processed air because I was naive enough to believe that dads don't lie to their kids. But guess what? The jokes on me, I'm done. With all of it. With him. With you. With this family," Luther said, Diego looked back at the three, not knowing quite what to do. "You wanna save the world, you go right ahead."

Klaus looks at Five and taps his wrist, telling him they're pressed on time.

Luther continues, "I'm fine to sit here and finish my beer and get my... buzz on."

"Listen Luther," Pandora approached the table that he and Diego were sitting at, refraining herself from slamming the palms of her hands on the table. "I don't give a flying shit on how you feel. We died the first time around, did you forget that? Did you forget that the end of the world is coming in two days? Hell I'm not even apart of this family according to your terms but I'm still pulling up by my bootstrap and doing my job, you hear me? You can leave Diego, the boys and me, but Allison," Pandora grabs the hat she sat down on the table and puts it on, diego slipping on his gloves, "Well she deserves a lot better than this shitty motivation you have."

Luther's head perked up the mention of his sister's name, "Allison? What are you talkin' about?"

"Well, we got ahold of Harold Jenkins' police file. Turns out Vanya's boyfriend is a convicted murderer, who would've saw that one coming? A little hard to trust anyone who wears corduroy," Diego filled Luther in.

"Wait, so... where's Allison now?"

"She decided to go after Harold Jenkins... Alone."

Luther stares at Diego with anger and shock, "You should've led with that!" he shoved his chair to the side as he got up. "Jesus Christ!" Luther rushed towards the door. Everyone shot up and followed him, Luther accidentally breaking the glass in the door as they exited.

"Sorry! We'll pay the bill later!" Pandora called back into the bar as they left.

...

Prom Night, 2006

For as long as Pandora had lived in this house, her bedroom window has never been locked. Mainly for Ben, she had been keeping it open for him ever since they were kids, just in case they needed each other. Although, her mother is never surprised anymore when Ben comes down for breakfast every other morning.

"God that window is starting to really become a tight squeeze," Pandora mumbled as she had stumbled into her bedroom from the window. "Add a dress to it and it's a fucking night mare. Here." She grabbed Ben's hand and helped pull him through the window, his landing a little more graceful than hers.

"Did you at least have fun? Other than, the last half of prom I mean," Pandora chuckled, walking towards her dresser as she unzipped the back of her dress.

"I did, actually. Robin put in a lot of work to make this happen." Ben replied, looking away from his girlfriend as though he'd never seen her bare back, "I-I'm just happy that I got to spend it with you."

"Yeah she... she really cares about you guys. It was nice to have a couple of hours where we were just teenagers," Pandora said, then pulled out a pair of pajamas for Ben out of her dresser and tossed them at him. "I feel like we had more fun by ourselves in the end, I don't really wanna know what's happening downstairs." She slipped the straps of her dress off her shoulders, letting it fall before changing into her own pair of pajamas.

"Robin probably has everything sorted out by now, she's good with handling Luther and Diego. But you know Reginald is probably setting up some nightmare training exercise 'cause he hated the idea of prom."

"It's probably better if we just had a mission tomorrow," Ben laughed, starting to change out of his suit and into the clothes Pandora provided for him, "So he has a reason to get mad at us if we mess up."

Pandora laughed lightly, pulling the Bobby pins out of her hair, moving towards Ben at the same time. After she pulled out two, she stopped. "Ben, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can."

"Do you like me?"

"Of course I do, you're my girlfriend."

"But do you like like me."

"All right, what are you trying to say?"

"Well I was just thinking about how we've been friends for like, ever and dating for a really long time. I know that we've had to keep this relationship really tight under wraps because of the academy, but you've never told me that you... loved me." Pandora finally said, sitting down on her bed, her legs criss cross, "I know actions speak louder than words, but I've never heard you say it out loud."

Ben paused for a moment, taken aback slightly about her comment. "Well I feel like I've tried my best to non verbally day it, but every time I do want to tell you, I guess it's never the right time. Like when there's photographers around us or when we're in events like this, I just felt like I would never have the time to say it so I try other ways to tell you besides verbally. With being in the academy I feel like there's always eyes on us, even when we're alone." Ben started, twisting the shirt Pandora had given him in his hands as he sat down right by her, the bed dipping a bit under their weight.

"Hey Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Ben smiled, "I love you too Pandora," He leaned over and kissed her repeatedly.

Pandora cupped his face, kissing him gently, "I love you so much it's not even funny. I love everything about you, even the parts of you that you don't love about yourself, I love you." She kisses him yet again.

"God I'm so glad I chose you out of all the people out there in the world. You make me so happy Pandora," His arms were now around her, their foreheads pressed against each other, "I promise you that there is nothing, not even death, that will pull us apart."

...

They spent what seemed like hours in the car, Five driving and Klaus in the passenger while Pandora, Diego, and Luther were shoved in the back seat. Pandora constantly found herself checking her watch every five minutes as Diego anxiously twirled a knife around in his fingers, Luther staring out the side window. The slow movement of music throughout the silent vehicle wasn't helping either.

"Hey. Can you go any faster?" Luther asked, leaning over the front seat, further shoving Pandora into Diego.

"Ask me again and I'll burn you with the cigarette lighter," Five responded, keeping his eyes on the road. Luther sighed, then sat back down in the seat again.

They eventually reached the cabin, it was quite homely and cute but they had no time to admire the scenery as they rushed up the stairs, Luther kicking down the front door as they went.

In the middle of the carpeted floor, was Allison. She was lying there, her eyes wide open, her hands and eyes twitching. There was a large gash across her throat, blood streaming down her neck, staining her white shirt. Her curly hair sticky with the fluid and the carpet a scarlet red instead of the eggshell around it.

Pandora gasped as she laid her eyes on her former team mate, tears pricking her eyes.

"Allison no!" Luther shouted, quickly kneeling down to her level and scooping er up barley, his one hand holding onto the back of her neck. "Allison! Oh my god Allison!" His other hand started to stroke her hair as tears ran down his face. He held her close to him as she sobbed, Pandora and Klaus putting their hands on his back, trying to hold back their own tears. "Please look at me, please.... Oh my god!" Klaus slumped on the couch, all of them not able to take their eyes on the sight before them.


	10. // chapter nine : changes //

2006

Pandora was instantly awakened by the urgent pounding on her bedroom door. She turned abruptly to face the door as it swung open, Klaus's eyes meeting hers.

"Pandora! Ben! Get up right now! We have a mission! Jesus Christ Ben, put on some pants!" Klaus's voice almost shouted, his curly hair hanging down in front of his eyes, one arm struggling through his suit. Ben caught the suit and mask Klaus had thrown to him as he leapt out of the bed.

Pandora sprung out of her bed though a wave of vertigo washed over her. Everything became blurred and spotted while a familiar feeling of nausea crawled up from her stomach to her throat. Quickly she fumbled on the floor for a bag and spilled her stomach contents into it, her body lurching.

"Oh my god Pandora, are you okay?" Ben quickly paced over to her.

Pandora waved him off. "Yeah, I'm fine, just go," She said, wiping away the vomit on her mouth with the back of her hand.

"I'm staying," Ben said, turning back to look at his brother, " we can't go on the mission without her."

"Ben, we don't have time for this. We're already late and we're missing one of our hardest hitters. You need to go," Klaus pressed, anxiously looking down the hallway. "We need to go now!"

"I can't just leave her, she's obviously sick!" Ben exclaimed.

"Ben I swear to god, GO! I will be fine without you here with me," Pandora responded.

Ben pursed his lips, looking back and forth between his brother and Pandora, "I'll be right back, don't worry," He headed towards the door, Klaus leaving as soon as he saw his brother was now moving. "I love you," Ben said, pausing in the doorway.

"Go," She smiled weakly. Ben gave her a worrying look but obeyed, yelling something about coming back later as he ran down the stairs.

...

Present

The tires underneath the car screeched as Five steered the car home, taking sharp turns, tossing the passengers inside the car left and riding as he drove. The vehicle came to a skidding stop as he parked in front of the Hargreeves estate.

"Come on! Let's Go!" Five said as they all tore out of the vehicle, rushing towards the backseat where Allison was lying.

"I don't think she's breathing," Luther reported, beginning to lift Allison up by the pits of her arms.

"Her heart beat is slowing down, we need to hurry or she isn't gonna make it," Pandora said, helping lift her with Luther and Klaus as they rushed inside the house. Diego found Grace, and soon enough they had her on an operating table.

"She's suffered a severe laceration to her larynx," Grace reported as she firmly pressed a bandage to Allison's wound, "One of you will have to give blood."

"I will!" They all said in unison.

"I'm doing it," Luther shook his head as he rolled up one of his sleeves.

"I don't think that's a good idea Luther," Pandora interjected.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think we need a She-Hulk kind of situation right now."

"Master Pandora is correct my dear boy, Your blood is more compatible with mine," Pogo nodded his head. Luther looked at Pogo in a mix of desperation and devastation as surgical tools clinked together in Graces hands.

"Hey, don't sweat it, I- I got this big guy," Klaus offered as she walked over to grace, arm exposed, slapping his arm to make a vein show, "I- I love needles."

"Master Klaus," Pogo interjected, Klaus looking back at him, "Your blood is... How shall I say this? Too polluted."

"Move," Diego said pushing past Luther and Pandora, standing right next to Grace. "I'll do it." Grave pulled out the needle, and in an instant, Diego collapsed to the floor.

"Oh my god!" Pandora said, watching him topple to the ground.

"Stick him," Pogo said.

...

Pandora walked down the halls of the academy looking for Klaus as she went, the lightness of her head almost making her topple over. Grace needed more blood and with that Pandora instantly volunteered. Klaus had left the room after Grace started drawing blood for Pandora, anxiously pacing and running his hands through his hair, often meaning that his body was craving drugs.

It was in no time that she heard him talking to himself, well at Ben in this case.

"Just go away, go away you! ... Well, sobriety is overrated... Where has it gotten me?" They're bickering, but half of the time Ben usually won. Pandora slowed down her pace, hanging around the corner of the hallway to listen in. "Where has it gotten me! Nowhere! I can't talk to the person I love. People still can't take me seriously. I wanna be numb again." He paused a moment before speaking again "Oh yeah? Really?... Wow, playing the dead card again, huh? You need new material bro. ... Well, then avert your gaze.... Alright, I'm sorry. You're right."

"Klaus, are you okay?" Pandora asked, rounding the corner then entering his room.

"Yeah, I'm- okay.. PSYCH!" He popped several pills into his mouth, cackling wildly before a blue transparent Ben manifested, punching Klaus across the face, pausing whatever pills that Klaus had put in his mouth, disappearing right after. Silence filled the room as both Pandora and Klaus looked at the place Ben had manifested in awe

"You... You saw that too, right?" Pandora whispered.

"Saw it, I felt it! God, how that hurt," Klaus rubbed his face, standing back a couple of steps before, "Ben, you just Patrick Swayzeed' me. How did you do that?"

"Klaus," Pandora swallowed, "I think you did."

...

"The bastard that nearly killed our sister's still out there, with Vanya." Diego reported, pacing around the living room as he spoke, "We need to go after her."

"Vanya is not important," Five argued.

"Hey, that's your sister. A little heartless, even for you, Five," Diego snapped at him. Klaus sat next to Pandora, nervously chewing away at his nails while his eyes focused on a specific part of the carpet.

"I'm not saying that I don't care about her, but if the apocalypse happens today, she dies along with the other seven billion of us," Five responded, "Harold Jenkins is our first priority."

"Even if she's not important, she's still with this Harold Jenkins, and as long as she is with him, she's in an incredible amount of danger," Pandora spoke up, "I know that Harold is our first priority, but Vanya is still with him."

"I agree, let's go," Diego said, him, Five, and Pandora starting to move towards the door.

"You guys count me out," Klaus said, causing them all to stop, "I mean, no offense or whatever. It's just... I kind of feel like this is a whole lot of pressure for newly-sober me, so-"

"You're coming."

"No, No, No. I mean, I think we can all agree that my powers, I mean it's pretty much useless compared to Five's or Pandora's. I'd just be holding you guys back."

"Klaus, get up," Pandora said

"You can't make me." Klaus sneered, then Diego threw a knife, the knife jutting itself in the couch right between Klaus's legs, causing feathers to fly out of the cushions. Klaus sighed, "Oh, then again, a little exercise couldn't hurt."

...

"Wait, so I'm confused. Is the body full of knives Harold Jenkins? Or is this a victim of Harold Jenkins?" Pandora asked as they observed the corpse they found on the dining room floor in Harolds Jenkin's house as if it were a painting hanging up in one of the museums that Pandora worked at, only if the paintings were full of knives and strange metal objects and was Vanya's dead boyfriend. It was quite a gruesome scene.

"No, it is Harold Jenkins. It's not exactly what I was expecting," Klaus said.

"The understatement of the year," Five commented.

"No sign of Vanya."

"Let's get out of here, before the cops come," Diego said, then turned his back from the body on the floor.

"In a minute," Five said, then approached the body, taking off the eyepatch and placing the glass eye he had in his pocket into the socket of his skull.

"Come on Five, what are you-," Diego started.

"Ugh, wow," Klaus said in disgust as the eye squelched against the other insides of Harold's skull. Pandora just watched, her face contorting slightly in disgust.

"Same eye color, same pupil size. Guys this is it. The eye I've been carrying around for decades, It-- It's found its rightful home," Five concluded, taking out the eye yet again, "We got the guy that we needed to kill to stop the apocalypse."

"And it's over? Just like that?" Pandora asked.

"Yay! Let's go," Klaus said, and started to walk towards the door before Diego grabbed him by the back of his jacket, pulling him back to the scene.

"No, no. wait, wait. It can't be this easy," Five stood up, "Look, this is the note I got from the commission. The one that says 'Protect Harold Jankins.' aka Leonard Peabody. But who killed him? Who did this?"

"I have a crazy idea. Crazy, but why don't we find Vanya, and ask her what happened?" Klaus asked, and in a flash of blue light, Five was gone again.

"If Vanya got away from this asshole, then she'll be heading back to the academy," Diego said, then looked back at the two of them, "Let's go."

...

The four of them got back to the mansion relatively quick, making a plan to split up and look for Vanya. Pandora felt like they searched every inch of the house up and down, Pandora herself even entered the surgical room where Allison was in as precaution.

It felt almost wrong as she approached the room, like she wasn't meant to be there. Pandora slowly ran a hand against the wall and peeked in through the slightly cracked door, as to not disturb anyone. Grace and Pogo weren't in the room anymore, it was just Luther, Allison and a medical supplies on the few rolling carts in the room. The floodlights shone down on them, illuminating what the sunlight streaming in from the room didn't, allowing Pandora to see the white patch that covered her wound.

It's wrong to say Pandora entered the room, because she never did, she just watched as Luther looked anxiously at his sisters face and held her hand. Pandora quietly left after a minute or two, feeling uncomfortable.

Pandora let her steps return to normal as she entered the foyer of the house, her boots now clicking fully on the tile. All she saw was Five sitting at the bar with two neon green margaritas.

"Do you think we did it? Stopped the apocalypse?" Five asked when she entered the room, swirling his straw around his margarita.

"I guess so, if the bastard is dead," Pandora said, now standing at the bar opposite to Five, a brightly painted mannequin with no hair and only a single arm sat next to Five, he introduced her as Delores to Pandora, speaking as if Delores was an actual person. "I just don't know what to do at this point."

"Live your life?" Five suggested, pushing a full margarita in her direction.

"What life?" Pandora laughed, "All I do is work, and worry. I'm a loser really, I don't have much left." She grabbed the glass and lightly swirled it, watching the mixture slosh in the glass.

"Hm, how about, while we're celebrating, spill your guts."

"About what?"

"What don't you like about Ben?"

"Despite the fact that he's dead?" Pandora asked, then set down her glass. "I don't know. There's nothing I really hated about him."

"Not even his powers? They're pretty gruesome."

"That's... different. I never really viewed Ben's powers as a part of him, I kind of viewed them as a second person you know?" Pandora sighed and picked up her glass again, taking a sip.

"It's hard without him. I only had him when we were young but even then when you're young you're all firecrackers. You want to go fast and go now, no slowing down for anything. I would do anything to go back and go slow with him."

Pandora stared ahead of her, "I know we saved the end of the world, but it's not the same without Ben. I know it sounds selfish but it doesn't feel like the world has been saved because he isn't back. There were times when I considered just dropping off the map and not coming back because I never wanted to live in a world without Ben." She laughed for a short moment, silence passing between the two.

"You know, there was a time after Ben's funeral where I was so desperate to salvage any part of him I thought was left, and I really hoped and convinced myself that I was pregnant with his baby... but then my period came." She rubbed her nose, wiping off any tears that had fallen down her face. "Oh god, I'm so sorry Five, I just kinda dumped all that information onto you, you didn't ask for any of that." She shook her head out of embarrassment.

"I don't mind. For a long time, It was just Delores and I in the apocalypse, But now we can all turn over a new leaf." Five spoke; a soft knock came from the front door. "I'll be getting that," he said, then slid off the bar stool to answer the door.

It wasn't long before Five had come back, a large man in a blue suit whom she instantly recognized as Hazel following, his gun pointed to Five's back

"What the actual fuck? Five-" Pandora started, rounding the bar.

"Now, hold on just a moment, Pandora," Five held up his hand, "Are you here to kill us?" Five asked as he sat up at the bar again. He was calm even at gunpoint.

"Oh. Shit. Sorry. Old habits," Hazel apologized, then put his pistol back in the waistband of his trousers, " Well, I can understand why you might feel that way, you know..."

"Well, you attacked our house and tried to kill my family," Five put bluntly.

"And kidnapped Klaus," Pandora pointed out.

"Well, there's not much I can do about the past," Hazel spoke, "I'm not the only killer in this room."

He glanced both at Pandora then at Five, "You have your own bloody history, pal. Speaking of which, that job you did in Calhoun, that shit's legendary. Can't believe that I'm actually sittin' here talkin' to you--"

"Hazel, why are you here?" Five asked, interrupting Hazel's rambling.

"Well, I'm, you know--" Hazel wasn't able to finish his sentence before he was attacked suddenly by Diego, kicking him to the side.

"Diego, Stop!" Five exclaimed, but didn't stop Diego from attacking him any further, "You know, before you kill him, you might want to hear what he has to say.

"I'm gonna kill you for what you did to Patch," Diego huffed, pulling out a knife as Hazel stood back up, then attacked him yet again.

"Or don't. See how that goes." Five sighed.

"Should I stop them?" Pandora asked, leaning against the bar on her elbows

"Let's see where this goes first," Five spoke. Diego stabbed Hazel in the leg, causing both Five and Pandora to inhale sharply, Pandora wincing. "That's going to hurt," He commented as Hazel pulled the knife out. Hazel picked up Diego, causing Diego to bite Hazel on the ear. Five put down his margarita, passing through a rift before knocking out Diego with a vase, Diego's body crumpling to the ground.

"I draw the line at biting," Five commented, "Hazel, whatever you came here to say, I suggest you make it quick, before he comes around," Five hobbled over to the bar stool where he was sitting.

"I left my partner, quit the commission, and came to volunteer," Hazel put simply.

"For what?" Pandora questioned.

"To help stop the apocalypse," Hazel said, causing Five to laugh, "What on earth could be so funny to you right now?"

"Before I answer that, why do you want to help us?" Five asked.

"Let's just say I have a vested interest in a doughnut shop," Hazel said.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, pal, but you're a day late and a dollar short. The fact that you're here right now means, without a shadow of a doubt, that the apocalypse is over," Five smiled.

"Really? How do you know?" Hazel asked.

"The mark is dead, we found him this morning. You were the last known unknown left in the equation."

Hazel sighed in relief, "Shit. Really?"

"Mm-hmm, and if you're out, then Hellrider ain't riding."

"Oh!" Hazel half celebrated, laughing as he approached the counter, "May I have a margarita?"

"Sure," Pandora smiled, then handed him a glass and the blender. Hazel took the blender, and started to drink the rest of the mix. "I'm going to go find Klaus, I haven't seen him since we got home," Pandora excused herself from the bar, heading up the stairs to the bedrooms.

2006

Pandora lied in her bed, looking over the pictures that Marin had taken on her polaroid from the night before. There was one with her and Ben, clasping each other's hands. She absolutely loved his smile, captured in mid laugh. It made her heart happy, just looking at this one photo of him.

A soft knocking came from the door, her mother walking in. She still had her scrubs and lab coat on, she must have just gotten home. Loose strands of curly hair hung out of her bun.

"Are you feeling any better sweetheart?" Her mother asked, throwing away empty cans of ginger ale that sat on her nightstand.

"Ugh, no," Pandora shook her head, "I feel like I have to puke all the time." Robin pressed her hand against her forehead.

"Did Marin take those photos?" Pandora's mom questioned, looking over the ones that she had set down.

"Yeah, aren't they fantastic?" Pandora beamed as her mom took her hand off her forehead.

"Well, Ben and the boys sure do look sharp," She complimented, a glint of sadness in her eyes that Pandora didn't seem to notice.

"Hey mom, did you see any of the Hargreeves when you got home? They usually visit me after the missions I don't go on," She said, holding her mom's hands in both of hers. "I just want to make sure they're okay."

Her mom let out a shaky sigh, looking away from Pandora. "Pogo came and talked to me after I had gotten out of the car. He told me that Reginald misunderstood how dangerous the mission really was." She looked back at Pandora, tears welling in her eyes. "Ben... he- he didn't make it out of the mission, he died sweetheart."

Pandora shook her head, attempting to get out of bed, "No, you're lying, he can't be de..." The word got caught in her throat, "He promised."

Robin lightly pushed Pandora back onto the bed, this didn't seem to stop her though. "He said he'd be back," she mumbled, getting off her bed. Pandora stood upright before collapsing, Robin catching her before she hit the ground. "Mom, he promised, he said he'd back, he can't be dead, he can't be dead." She didn't know what to do, a part of her still trying to comprehend the information, the other aching to see Ben's face one last time. To tell him that she's never loved anyone like she loved him. Pandora wanted to touch his skin and kiss what she could before she had to say goodbye.

"Pandora..." Robin pleaded, trying to stop her tears from escaping her own eyes.

Pandora's body went limp as she stopped struggling, her anger and confusion replaced by an overwhelming amount of sadness and loss. Tears pooled down the sides of her head as she grasped onto the arm holding her up from the ground. "I was supposed to go, he's dead, he said he would come back, but he's dead. God! Mom!" Pandora said, barely in between sobs, Her mother held Pandora tightly as the reality of the situation tore Pandora apart, her breathing muffled by the fabric of her clothing.

Pandora choked on the air she was breathing, unable to breath as she started to sob. "Oh god, oh god, oh god! Mom! Oh my god!" Tears pooled down the sides of her head as she grasped onto her mom's hands, "oh god Mom I was supposed to go but he's dead, he said he would come back, but he's dead. God! Mom!" Her mother held Pandora tightly as the reality of the situation tore Pandora apart. "Ben!" she wailed.

...

Present day

Vanya slammed her hands on the glass in the door, screaming, trying to communicate with them, but no sounds were heard. She sobbed, big weltering tears falling down her face as she pounded the glass. Pandora's eyes casted down onto the floor, then back up at Marin. Marin kept her eyes on Vanya, sadness creeping into her gaze.

"You locked up our sister, because you think she has powers?" Diego asked, turning back to Luther.

"No, I know she does. Pogo told me," Luther said, defending his decision, "He's always known, so did Dad."

"Why would they hide this from us? I mean, am I the only one that didn't know this place existed?"

"He hid so much from us..." Klaus commented.

"He hid it because he was afraid... of her," Luther spoke.

"Oh, that's ridiculous," Klaus shook his head.

"Is it?' Luther questioned, "Dad has lied to us about everything else, why is this so far fetched."

"If you're right Luther, maybe she's the one that killed Peabody," Diego pointed out.

"And cut Allison's throat," Luther added on.

"Woah, no. Lets-- I ju-- Sorry, just, let's go back, alright? This is Vanya we're talking about. Our sister. The one who cried when we stepped on ants as kids."

"Yeah, I know it's difficult to accept--"  
"It's not difficult to accept, it's impossible to accept," Klaus exclaimed.

"That's no reason to lock her up," Pandora finally spoke, "Luther, you have to let her go, I mean, this is Vanya that's in that cell."

"No, they're right. Look, we can't keep her locked up without proof," Diego spoke, turning to all of them.

"Wh-- What more proof do you need?" Luther spat.

"Why don't we open the door, and ask her," Klaus suggested, referencing Vanya who was still in the cell, the palms of her hands had started to turn red. He reached towards the door, but Luther stopped him.

"No, she's not going anywhere." Luther stopped, Klaus turning to leave.

"No, even if you're right, she needs our help and we can't do that, if she's locked in a cage," Diego said.

"Yeah, and for all we know, she might be struggling with this new power," Klaus said, "I mean it must be scary, terrifying, really to discover that you can do something that you never thought you could do."

"Luther, if she does have powers, this isn't the best thing to do. We all know what it was like to struggle with our own abilities," Pandora reasoned.

"Look, if what Pogo told me is even half true, then she is not just a danger to us," Luther said.

"I can tell you from personal experience that Vanya has no powers. She's no danger to us," Marin shook her head, breaking her silence.

"This is academy business, Marin."

"Then what was the point of inviting me down here Luther?" Marin stepped closer to him, "To watch your sister, my friends suffer as you all bicker to keep her in a cage or not?"

Allison approached the group, standing in the doorway with a pad of paper and a sharpie in her hands.

"Allison, what are you doing here? You should be in bed," Luther spoke, his tone shifting in the presence of his sister.

Allison flipped through the pages, writing down a few words before showing them.

Let her go.

"I can't do that. She hurt you."

Allison shook her head, flipping to another page.

My fault.

"I'm sorry, but she's staying put," Allison tried to push through him, but he held her back, "Just until we know what we're dealing with." She tried again, but Luther didn't budge. She looked back up at him, shoving him before she turned back to the exit.

"Nice job Luther," Pandora commented sarcastically, before turning back to the exit as well, Marin following her shortly.

They reached the top of the stairs in no time. Marin sighed deeply, glancing down the stairs before glancing back at Pandora.

"What now?" Pandora asked, putting her hands on her own hips, "We can't keep Vanya down there, it's not right."

"I'm gonna stay here, see if I can get down there," Marin reasoned.

"You know Luther's not going to allow that, he's probably going to stay and keep watch there," Pandora shook her head.

"Pandora, It's Vanya." Marin pressed.

Pandora pressed her lips, then sighed, "Fine, I'm not going to fight you on this. I'm going to find Klaus, Don't do anything stupid." She started walking back towards the bedrooms

"What? You don't trust me?" Marin joked, heading towards the stairs where Vanya was being kept. Pandora gave her a pointed look but turned around shortly after.

Pandora found Klaus sitting on his bedroom floor, attempting patty cake with thin air. She sat down beside him, phasing out of her own body. Ben was sitting just across from Klaus, attempting to patty cake Klaus, his hands pushing through his brothers. She rested her head on his shoulders.

"Where's Marin?" Ben questioned, resting his hands on his lap.

"She... She wanted to go see Vanya. Luther pissed her off pretty well," Pandora answered, shaking her head. "I just have a bad feeling about it.

Suddenly, a rumble shot out from underneath them, the building groaned as dust fell from the ceiling.


	11. Chapter Ten: The White Violin

2006

The sun was hot, waxing it’s strong rays all across the city. Summer was just starting to end, the August heat reaching its prime before leaves started to turn orange and yellow, welcoming in Autumn.  
Ben loved this time of year.  
Two weeks ago they had snuck out of each other's houses and got dinner, they even went to go see a movie. They spent the rest of the night standing on the fire escape near Pandora’s window, muffling each other’s laughter not wanting to wake anyone up as they talked about what the future had in store for them.  
Now Ben had been replaced with a statue that stood in the courtyard of his home. The courtyard that occasionally was filled with laughter as everyone ran and did cartwheels during time between lessons. The benches where they used to sit for hours reading assigned classic literature and discussed the subtle meanings the author left behind were cold and gathering dirt.  
The courtyard sat empty, quiet. Pandora sat at the bench closest to the statue of her closest friend. The sun had set just behind the tall walls around the estate, giving her the perfect amount of shade while the statue was stark bathed in the orange light.  
The black metal glinted off the sunlight, the phrase, “May the darkness within you, find peace in the light,” inscribed on a plaque at the foot at the statue’s feet.  
There wasn’t enough of Ben to put him in a casket, Allison was gracious enough to spare Pandora from the details of the mission, especially his death.  
Had Pandora done enough? If she was there on the mission, would he be holding her hand in his room laughing about the mission? Would his siblings still have their brother? Would she have been able to save him from his doom? Or would she have been helpless as she watched him die?  
All thoughts had cleared her mind as a hand touched her right shoulder, Grace settling down on the bench next to her.  
For the years that Pandora had known Grace, she looked as though hadn’t aged a day. Sure, she was a robot, but she felt real. There were days where Pandora’s mom had been working late so Pandora and Marin would go over to the academy after school. Grace always had fresh baked goods ready for the kids to tear into and patched Pandora up after every mission and training session (even if all the aid that was required was a simple bandaid).  
“Dinner is ready now, the siblings and I would love for you to join us if you’re hungry,” Grace smiled.  
“Yeah, of course Grace,” Pandora nodded, then paused. “Grace, I know I never talk to you about the missions, but do you think it would have been different if I was there? That maybe….. Ben would still be alive.” It hurt getting the words out, her throat tightening as tears threatened her eyes.  
Grace’s manufactured eyebrows knitted together, processing the question. “I don’t know, sweetie. Maybe it would have been, maybe it wouldn’t have been,” She paused, calculating an answer. “I can tell that this question has battled you all week, and you feel guilty. But I don’t think if there was an answer that it would give you closure, or any rest.”  
Pandora nodded again, “Is it alright if we go inside now?”  
“Of course, sweetie.”  
They both walked back to the house, Pandora holding the door for Grace as they entered the kitchen. The siblings and Marin had already taken their spots around the table.  
“No, no, no, no. Dad is a goddamn bastard for this. At least there’s a chance that Five’s coming back but Ben just died,” Diego slammed his palms on the top of the table.  
“Everyone has their way of grieving, Diego. I have to admit, even I disagree with the way that he’s carrying this out,” Luther shook his head.  
“Dad couldn’t even be bothered to attend his own son’s funeral, what makes you think that he cares about the rest of us,” Allison stated.  
“Tomorrow Dad’s gonna carry on like nothing fucking happened. We just lost our brother and he’s still gonna make us train and watch, after that we’re gonna carry out a mission and hopefully we all don’t die doing it,” Diego continued.  
“Oh, hey Pandora!” Klaus waved from the other side of the table. He was high, again, that much was obvious.  
The mood shifted awkwardly as Pandora sat down at the table, Grace placing a plate of food in front of her.  
“So, uh, Reginald has been quite a hot topic,” Pandora said.  
“Well, if it wasn’t for Robin and Pogo, we probably wouldn’t even have a memorial service,” Diego started, “He probably would have put up the statue without another word then we gotta pretend nothing ever happened.”  
“Children,” they all turned to see Pogo in the doorway, he was clutching his walking stick as he approached them, “I understand that losing Ben has had a great impact, come more impactful than others, but we must not condemn Sir Reginald for his actions at this time. His actions are not ideal, but we have to remember that we are in a state of honoring Master Ben’s loss. Contention is the last thing Ben would have wanted.”  
“I mean, does anyone really know what Ben wants?” Klaus commented, sitting up in his seat.  
“I made dessert!” Grace chimed as she started handing out bowls of vanilla ice cream with two chocolate chip cookies. Usually they would take the ice cream and put it in between the cookies to make ice cream sandwiches, but it just didn’t feel right to do it.  
No one had touched the food on their plates.

Present

Pandora’s quote on quote “bad feeling” grew worse the minute the house began to shake. The three occupants in Klaus’s room looked up towards the ceiling simultaneously to find small cracks forming. Pandora quickly phased back into her body and pulled Klaus up to get out of the room.  
Diego, Luther, Klaus and Pandora nearly collided with one another.  
“Yo, what the hell is going on?” Diego asked, everyone was wondering the same thing.  
Klaus squeezed Pandora’s arm slightly to get her attention, “Are those explosions coming fr-”  
“Vanya,” Luther finished.  
“Marin,” Pandora’s eyes widened and her body began to move away from everyone. She took off sprinting down the hallway to Vanya’s chamber, completely disregarding the order to get themselves to safety outside of the house.  
Pandora had one person on her mind and that was her sister.  
A large thunk emitted from the wall as Pandora pushed off it rounding the corner. Everything that happened in the last five minutes came to mind.  
Marin was talking to Pandora about Vanya, she wanted to go back down to the basement and help her. Pandora let her go, she let her go down to the woman who is now wreaking havoc on the old house.  
She couldn’t have made it to the basement, or hopefully she didn’t because if she did then Vanya wouldn’t explode like this, right?  
Pandora finally had made it to the final stretch to the elevator, her chest rising up and down at an erratic pace as the balls of her feet hit the ground over and over again, the ache in her stomach raised by anxiety got worse the closer she got. Everything began to slow down the moment the wall beside her started to bulge and crack towards her. Pandora lifted up her arm and squeezed her eyes shut in a lousy attempt to shield herself from the incoming blast of plaster, wood and brick. The right wall in the hallway burst, causing Pandora to be pushed back into the wall and onto the floor. Pandora knew she would be dead instantly, flattened into a Pandora shaped pancake.  
Pandora coughed and slowly opened her eyes when she realized nothing had actually hit her. She looked down at the ground in front of her and noticed a small half circle of rubble surrounding her though she herself was unscathed.  
“What..?” Pandora gasped, only forgetting why she was away from everyone else to begin with for a moment. The rest of the way towards the elevator was blocked off, if the house wasn’t currently being destroyed Pandora would’ve considered digging through the rubble to get down there but she didn’t. All she could do now was hope that Marin had gained the sense to get out herself.  
The dust on Pandora’s shoes made it slightly difficult to get back on her feet and the guilt beginning to weigh down on her already dulled her sense of survival. She began running once again, finding that several ways of a quick escape were already blocked off, the next best thing she could think of was to head to the fire escape in Fives room.  
By the time she had gotten to Five’s bedroom, the other bedrooms had been completely destroyed or engulfed in flames, the heat emanating from them was almost too much to even run past.  
She passed through the oak door frame, the door was barely hanging onto the hinges as prices of paper floated through the air half burnt. Wallpaper was peeling off of the chipped, broken walls. She rushed over to the windowsill, the paint on the sill worn away from years of using this very window to sneak in and out of the house.  
Pandora reached down to the opening of the window, attempting to lift the opening, but with little go. She attempted again with more strength, the window stayed in its place. In an act of panic, she rammed her fist against the glass, the glass shattering with the blow. Laying down her jacket on the bottom of the window, She squeezed through the now open window with surprising difficulty.  
“Pandora!” She turned to see Klaus at the bottom of the alley, waving her over.  
“Klaus!” She grabbed her jacket, running down the fire escape, jumping skipping several of the last steps joining Klaus and Diego at the bottom, “Klaus have you seen Marin, I couldn’t find her anywhere.”  
“I haven’t- wait, Mom! Get out of there now!” Klaus shouted, gesturing to one of the windows on the upper level of the house. Grace was looking at them from the window, waving.  
“Mom, get out of there! Mom!” Diego shouts, then turned to the fire escape that Pandora had just come down on “I’m coming after you!”  
“Diego, no!” Pandora called, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the staircase “Diego, if you go in there you’ll die!”  
Klaus grabbed Diego along side Pandora “Get back!”  
“Please! Mom!” Diego, “Mom!”  
Their screams and pleads were eventually drowned out by the shattering of glass and the breaking of bricks as the house that housed them for so many years crumbled around them.  
The dust was overwhelming, caking their skin and filling the air and their lungs as they sprinted to safety, covering each other from any other rubble that was falling towards their way.  
In the center of it all, was just building scraps and broken furniture. Pandora scanned the scene carefully looking for any sign of her twin sister, but in the end coming up with nothing.  
She hit her knees, her hands shaking as she moved away broken bricks and rebar.  
“Guys please, she’s in here somewhere she just gotta find her. Please, Marins I’m here we gotta get her out!” She looked back at Klaus and Diego, tears already overwhelming her.  
“You wanna-- wanna.. Walks away from this?” Diego stuttered at Klaus  
“No.” Klaus answered simply, shaking his head  
“What about Pogo, and Marin?”  
“He didn’t make it.” Luther interjected, following shortly after was Allison.  
“What?”  
Luther sighed before answering his brother, “Vanya killed him. We can only assume that Vanya may have killed Marin as well.”  
“But Vanya wouldn’t--” Diego started.  
“No, I saw it, just before we got out.” Luther confirmed  
“Mom, Marin. Now Pogo,” Diego shook his head as he sat down near Pandora.  
“Guys, this is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today.” Five walked into the ruined property, holding up a newspaper  
“I thought you said it was over,” Luther asked, now confused  
“I was wrong, okay? This newspaper, I found in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn’t changed.”  
“No, that doesn’t mean anything, the time could’ve been altered since that newspaper came out this morning.”  
“You’re not listening to me. When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else. But here we are. The moon’s still shining, the earth is in one piece, but not the academy.”  
“I’m confused,” Klaus commented.  
“Then listen to me, you idiot! Vanya destroys the academy before the apocalypse.” Five sighed, now contemplating the intelligence of his peers around him. “I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause, but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb… Vanya causes the apocalypse.”  
“Then we have to take care of Vanya,” Pandora said, standing up. Klaus glanced at her, a flash of horror in his eyes when he sensed the same anger in her voice that she had for months when Ben died.  
Sirens started to wail, helicopter blades beating as search lights poured over the scene of the now destroyed academy.  
“We have to find her,” Luther shouts over the noise, “We gotta go, now. Regroup at the Super Star. go!” 

2006

Diego was right. Reginald wanted them to carry on as if nothing really happened. “A minor set back” in the mighty Umbrella Academy as the old man liked to call it. In fact, the very next day they were back in the training room, practicing like any other day.  
Sweat beaded down Pandora’s forehead as she stood in the center of the mat, her feet apart and her knees slightly bent, Her hands were raised to her chest.  
In front of her stood Diego in a similar stance, but not exact. Reginald often pitted her against Diego, seeing their hand to hand fighting abilities were almost at the exact level.  
The others were sitting on the edges of the room, watching the fight nervously. Reginald stood at the edge of the mat, leaning against his cane as he glared at the two unblinking.  
Reginald raised a metal whistle to his mouth, the sharp noise coming second later.  
Diego’s right fist swung in from the side, hitting the left armed block Pandora threw up instantaneously. Using this position to her advantage, Pandora pulled his body towards her. She grasped his right arm just above his elbow with her left hand, grabbing his waist with her other hand and slammed him onto the mat  
“Stop! Again!” Reginald shook his head “Sloppy. Have I taught you nothing?”  
Pandora slapped her hand on the mat next to Diego’s head and pushed up from the mat, fuming, “Bull shit! That take down was near perfect, why the hell are we starting over?!”  
Reginald didn’t respond to the question, raising the metal whistle back up to his mouth. The sharp noise emoted again.  
Diego’s fist collided with Pandora’s right temple, it was a cheap shot but she should have known to deflect it. Diego’s fights 50% of the time started with him punching, Pandora was too busy fighting Reginald to notice.  
Rage and adrenaline pumped through every vein of Pandora’s body as she struck Diego in the chest, using her power to add a bit of push behind her strike. The fight quickly became a flurry of blows and kicks, the two of them regarding any personal safety in the goal of winning.  
Pandora was so blindsided that she didn’t stop until she heard screaming.  
She had Diego in his knees, her forearm was pressed just above his elbow, his arm below her own was bent at an unnatural angle.  
She let go in horror as Reginald’s voice rang out at her.  
“Good God girl? What the hell were you thinking?” Reginald stormed the mat, standing right next to a wailing Diego as Diego clutched his broken arm.  
The same anger and hurt took over the sympathy she felt for breaking Diego’s arm in a swarm once Reginald entered Pandora’s line of sight.  
“I quit,” she spat.  
Reginald's eyes narrowed as he pointed at the door, “Get out of my house.”

…

“Wow, was training really that bad? Bad enough that you won’t talk to me about it?” Main asked, leaning against the doorframe on the entrance to Pandora’s room. “I do have to admit that the bruise on your face is pretty gnarly. Who did that? Allison?”  
“Just, stop. I’m trying to think Marin,” Pandora dismissed as she unfolded a garbage bag, “And it was Diego, not Allison.”  
“You really let Diego push you around like that? C’mon Pandora, really couldn’t have been that bad,” Marin pressed as Pandora ripped open her dresser’s bottom drawer open, revealing her old uniform and domino mask, as well as different memorabilia that she had collected from the Academy.  
“Fine. I quit the academy,” Pandora said, grabbing the uniforms and shoving them into the garbage bag. “Diego’s right. It was full of bullshit anyways and it’s not worth it without Ben.”  
“So you quit over Ben?”  
“No I didn’t… quit over Ben, I quit because it was full of shit!”  
“Well, what would Ben do?”  
“Oh my god Marin, stop mentioning Ben!” Pandora shouted, tears had overwhelmed her eyes blurring her vision. “I broke Diego’s arm and said I was quitting straight to the old man’s face. Because ever since that goddamn mission it’s either been ‘Ben this Ben that’ or we’re pretending he doesn’t exist and it’s full of shit. The Academy was fucked up anyways and I’m done! I’m so fucking done and I don’t want to be a part of that old bastards quest for glory,” She paused, taking in several shaky breaths as Marin joined her on the floor, “I’m tired of being pushed around and forced to use powers I never even wanted in the first place. Everything hurts so much without Ben, I just can’t believe he’s gone.” Pandora held her head in her hands as Marin rubbed her back softly. “Ben was the same way. He hated his powers, and in the end, it was probably the thing that killed him. He wanted out of the Academy more than me! I got the easy way out, he had to die to leave!”

…

They sat on the floor for what it felt like hours, talking about everything under the sun that wasn’t the Academy. Their mom came in a few times to check up on them. Robin was too tired to cook any food, so she gave them a twenty dollar bill to go get pizza or take out.  
“I’m just saying, if we don’t get everything together by Football season, our goal of going to state is gonna be a joke.” Marin shook her head as she sat on Pandora’s bed, a carton of take out in one of her hands as she reported to Pandora about her summer Cheer practice.  
“They just need to cut the few people that can’t keep up with the speed.” Pandora agreed, sitting at the head of her bed as she worked knitting away at another blanket.  
“That’s what I’ve been saying to the coaches the whole summer!” Marin exclaimed.  
The doorbell chimed from the hallways, alerting the twins.  
“I got it, don’t worry.” Pandora dismissed, setting down her knitting needles as she left the room.  
Her mother had beaten her to opening the door, welcoming in Allison Hargreeves as they carried light conversation.  
“Oh, Pandora dear! Allison needs to talk to you real quick, I’ll leave you two alone!” Robin smiled as she shut the door, “Allison, if you need anything I’ll be in the next room, and the pantry is open to you in case you get hungry.”  
“I’ll only be here for ten minutes, but thank you for the offer,” Allison said, she had a small cardboard box in her hands.  
“Well, maybe you can come over tomorrow, bring your siblings,” Robin nodded, “again, if you ladies need me, I’m in the other room.” With that note, she left the room.  
Allison and Pandora stood in awkward silence, glancing up at each other.  
“Are you here to rumor me back?” Pandora asked, finally breaking the silence.  
Allison’s eyes widened, “Rumor you? God no, Pandora! If anything, I envy you. You’re the only one who’s had the guts to leave.”  
“Is Diego okay?” Pandora asked, “I never meant to break his arm, I was just so furious at your dad.”  
“He’s fine, Mom set his arm and casted it as soon as you left.”  
“I guess I’m not gonna be able to sign it.”  
Allison laughed dryly, “Yeah I guess so.” She sighed, readjusting the box in her hands, “Anyways, Grace was cleaning Ben's room and found this under his bed, it has your name so it must have been pretty important to him..” She extended the box towards her, Pandora took the box into her arms. “I had to stop Klaus from rummaging through the box, but all of us agreed that in the end you should have the box.”  
“Thank you,” Pandora pressed a smile, clutching the box.  
“Pandora, you were his whole world.” Allison said, “I think anyone with two eyes could tell that he was very, very much in love with you, even when we were kids. I couldn’t even imagine if Luther-,” she stopped, “Sorry.”  
“It’s okay,” Pandora dismissed, “I feel like I just screwed up everything, with leaving. I don’t even know if I’ll see Grace or Pogo ever again.”  
“Pandora, you may have left the Umbrella Academy, but you haven’t left our family. We love you Pandora. We’ll drop by and visit you whenever the old man turns a blind eye.”  
The first one to leave after Pandora was Diego, he didn’t even wait for his arm to heal before he took his knives and ran off. Vanya left a year after him, Pandora never really knew what she had planned after she left the academy. Klaus was right after Vanya, he struggled to stay sober through the years, always counting on Pandora to get him out of rehab, or jail. Allison left after Klaus and met instant fame, starring in blockbusters and appearing in paparazzi magazines left and right. Luther was the only one that stayed, only to be abandoned on the moon for four years.  
Pandora’s first years were only filled with sorrow, which she often tried to distract with alcohol. When ever she could, she would visit Ben’s statue. Reginald stayed in his office all day, and Pogo was willing to keep a secret so Pandora could keep her head on her shoulders. Grace would bake her pastries and make tea as Pandora updated her on anything that was happening in her life.  
The content of the box that had her name in Ben's room was the thing that single handedly kept her head above water.  
A copy of The French Lieutenant's Woman, the pages barely worn with a book mark halfway through.  
Six large yellow envelopes packed to the brim full of letters and poetry, addressed to Pandora.  
A jar full of memories, ticket stubs, broken brackets, little notes Pandora had written to Ben, an action figure of Pandora in her Umbrella Academy uniform, rocks from the beach, and lyrics from love songs.  
A photo album, pictures of them ranging from when they first met to the week leading up to his death.  
Another jar, this time full of cash.  
A map to Northern California, a red pen carefully marked the roads that lead to Pandora aunt’s house, the place they planned to run away to when they were able to leave the academy.  
The Umbrella Academy was like a mosaic, beautiful, but still made out of broken pieces. Without all the individual pieces, it’s incomplete. The Academy was doomed to collapse the day Number Five had disappeared. They were assembled to save the world, when they couldn’t even save themselves.

present

Everything seemed a blur, from the moment they left the ruins of the mansion to the bowling alley. Pandora vaguely remembers getting into a car, or maybe she was pulled in… She couldn’t recall the events exactly.  
The next thing she knew she was being slightly jostled by Klaus as he got out of the car, the piercing neon sign of the bowling alley blinding her slightly. Pandora hadn’t had a single thought since the house came down, everything seemed completely empty. In fact, she’s pretty sure that if anyone were to knock her head her skull would emit a hollow sound.  
Nothing felt real, Pandora felt like she was mindlessly floating about in so many emotions that they all cancelled out and made her numb. She felt like a puppet when moving, like something else was controlling her.  
Pandora hadn’t noticed but Klaus had been watching her closely within the last hour. He had been the one prompting her politely to keep walking and moving because no one else seemed to be. This didn’t seem foreign to him, it was familiar more than anything. Though both of them didn’t think anything of it, they weren’t thinking at all actually.  
The bowling alley’s cold, blue lighting hurt everyone’s eyes momentarily. Klaus was speaking to Pandora, something about a bathroom and how she should use it. It was just noise to Pandora but she obeyed, leaving to go to the bathroom by herself.  
She didn’t recognize the person in the mirror for a few seconds. The soot on Pandora’s face made her nearly unrecognizable and homely. Pandora reached a hand up to the area under her eyes and felt a wet mud/like mixture underneath it. There was blood seeping out of her knuckles at a steady pace, a little shard of glass stuck in the skin around and in the wound. Pandora gaped at the wound, wondering why she didn’t feel any pain whatsoever. She’d been crying, bleeding, and didn’t even notice. This seemed to be the thing that kicked her back in reality; She immediately grabbed paper towels from the dispenser, dipping them underneath the running water from the faucet and washed off her face, hair, and knuckles as best as she could, no matter how much it had hurt.  
Pandora pushed the bathroom door open to find Luther standing a few feet away, he seemed to be waiting for someone. She hesitated going back inside for a second to avoid whatever crap he was ready to spew because she was definitely not in the moo-  
“I’m sorry,” Luther piped up, noticing Pandora was out of the bathroom. She closed the door and stood, staring at Luther. “I’m sorry for what happened to Marin… For everything, actually.”  
Pandora’s face contorted with confusion and anger as she walked up to Luther with the same courage she had when he had the nerve to call her an in law a few days back. However this time, Luther was scared. Pandora was very short to him in comparison but nonetheless she still terrified him. Pandora’s anger faded away with sadness, she wanted to say something, to yell at him maybe?  
But she instead looked away and pushed past him. She was afraid that if she had opened her mouth at all, every emotion would begin flowing out at once and that was the last thing they needed.  
It wasn’t hard to find the rest of the Hargreeves in the bowling alley. The only other people that were there were the employees and a kids birthday party. Somehow, a group of adults consisting of a drug addict, a celebrity, a knife thrower, a thirteen year old who’s actually a fifty something mass murderer, a man that tries to hide everything under a trench coat, a ghost, and a woman who can’t hold her shit together, stands out more than some kids birthday party.  
Klaus had already set an extra pair of bowling shoes Pandora’s size on an empty seat near him. Pandora took the bowling shoes and sat down on the chair, taking off her shoes and tucking them under her seat.  
She had zoned out the minute she had slipped on those shoes, her thoughts returning to mush. That is, until an unfamiliar voice had piped up.  
“I’m sorry to intrude, but my manager says if you’re not gonna bowl then you-” she spoke, but was quickly interrupted by Pandora.  
“No…. no you don’t get it,” Pandora shook her head, getting up from her seat. “We are here to plan whatever the hell we need to get planned so we can stop the end of the world. I don’t even think we can stop the end of the world, but hey!” Pandora laughed, “Might as well try right!”  
She grabbed the employee by the shoulders, her expression becoming more serious now. The employee was young, early twenties maybe. There was fear creeping into the poor workers eyes. “The world is ENDING, don't you GET IT?” Her voice was rising, she shook the employee so hard a stand of hair fell out of her blonde ponytail. “Maybe we can stop it, maybe we can’t. I want you to run, I want you to run as far away from this stupid bowling alley as you can. Dig yourself a hole, jump in it, and pray that nothing happens!”  
“Pandora!” Klaus’s voice shook through her head. When she looked up, she was still sitting in her seat, Klaus right next to her.  
“... then you gotta leave.” The employee gave them all a small smile as she turned back towards the front counter.  
“Who’s turn is it?” Diego questioned.  
“Oh for-“ Luther grabbed a pink bowling ball and tossed it, bouncing down three alleys before hitting a strike.  
“Did I miss anything?” Pandora asked Klaus.  
“Vanya’s here.” Klaus pointed at an ad of Vanya in the newspaper, she had a concert tonight.  
Allison tapped her notepad, pointing it towards Luther.  
“We’re the only ones capable of stopping this,” Luther shook his head, “We have a responsibility to dad.”  
“To Dad?!” Diego turned towards Luther “No, I’ve heard enough about—“  
“He sacrificed everything to bring us back together,” Luther argued.  
“I’m with Luther on this one,” Five agreed “We can’t give her a choice to fight back. There are billions of lives at stake. We’re past trying to save just one.”  
“Maybe we shouldn’t attack just for the sake of Reginald. You also have to consider she took Grace, Pogo, and Marin when the Academy collapsed,” Pandora added  
“Hey, you know, guys. Uh, maybe I could help,” Klaus offered, glancing towards an empty space where Pandora could only assume Ben was standing.  
“Now is not the time-,” Luther started.  
“No, let him finish.” Diego interrupted as Klaus stood up from his chair, “He saved my life today.”  
“Is that true?”  
“Yeah, yeah I did…. take credit for it, but in fact, the real hero is Ben,” Klaus nodded.  
All the present siblings looked towards Klaus in puzzlement.  
“Today— Listen. Today he punched me in the face. And earlier today he was the one that saved Diego!” Klaus explained, pacing back and forth.  
“You are unbelievable.”  
“You want proof? Is that it?” Klaus asked, then grabbed a bowling ball, “I’ll give you proof! Alright, it’s showtime, baby! Catch!” He tossed the ball towards the empty spot, probably in hopes that Ben would catch it, but the ball just sailed through.  
“Is there any way to silence the voice in your head that screams out to be the center of attention?”  
“You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid!” Klaus butted back, but started to retreat his comment as soon as he saw Luther's reaction. “Which was a complete— it-it wasn’t his fault cause he was ridiculously high, right? And— and the girl she— she thought he was a furry—“  
“Stop!”  
“Okay.”  
Allison turned, storming away from the group with Luther following her shortly behind her.  
“Hi! Excuse me, excuse me,” A large woman approached the group, a young man who Pandora could only guess was her son standing next to her. “It’s my son Kenny’s birthday today and uh, wouldn’t your son be happier playing with some kids his age?” Five’s eyebrows knitted together, “Assuming it’s okay with your two dads?”  
There was a moment of silence that passed between them. Klaus looked over to Diego, who just stared back at him not knowing what to say.  
“I would rather chew off my own foot,” Five finally concluded.  
“Let’s go, Kenny,” the woman and Kenny started to shuffle off immediately from the four of them.  
“Jesus Christ Five, you could have just said no. You didn’t have to scare them,” Pandora commented.  
“I don’t have time to be polite. The goddamn apocalypse is coming,” Five huffed, then stood up from his seat and walked off.  
“If I was going to date a man, you would be the last man I’d date,” Diego stated.  
“You would be lucky to date me,” Klaus sneered as he picked up another bowling ball.  
“If you throw another bowling ball Klaus, I swear to God,” Pandora said, pointing a finger at him.  
“I’m not! I’m just getting as much game in as I can before the world ends,” Klaus excused himself, then rolled the ball down the alley, it ran immediately into the gutter. “Well, hell. I think it’s your turn, Pan.”  
“No thank you,” She grabbed the score sheet and a pencil, “I’ll just keep score.”  
Klaus and Diego took turns bowling, Klaus missed almost every shot while Diego struck out on every turn.  
“That’s not fair, you promised that you wouldn’t use your powers while bowling,” Klaus shook his head.  
“We were thirteen, Klaus.”  
“All right, where’s Five?” Luther asked, allison coming in after him. They must have worked everything out.  
“He left,” Diego informed.  
“Oh for the love of-- where did he go?”  
“Didn’t tell us.”  
“Well, we’re not waiting around for him. The concert starts in 30 minutes.”  
“What’s the plan?” Pandora questioned.  
“Well, I think that, uh. We go to the Icarus Theatre,” Luther started.  
“That’s a location, not a plan.” Diego pointed out, “What, is that all you got? Look. you wanna be Number One, fine. But you’re gonna have to get us all on the same page. Because right now, we’re all over the place.”  
“You’re right,” Luther admitted, “We need a plan.”  
Gunshots fired out, Pandora and Klaus ducked underneath a counter as the other siblings scrambled for cover.  
“Who the hell are these guys?” Diego shouted over the noise.  
“Maybe they’re here for Kenny’s birthday!” Klaus suggested, his hands clamped tightly over his ears.  
“No, I’m pretty sure they’re here for us!” Luther yelled back. Diego stood up and threw a knife at one of the gun men, Luther grabbing bowling balls and launching them at their aggressors.  
Pandora took a deep breath, standing up from where she was behind the counter. She spotted two of the gunmen and out reached her arms, made a fist, then pulled back her hands. The two gunmen collapsed on the ground, unmoving. She repeated the same motion with two other gunmen before she had to duck down for cover again, wiping blood away from her eyes.  
“They’re blocking the exit!” Klaus shouted.  
“What’s the plan now?” Diego asked.  
Allison pointed towards the lanes in front of them frantically.  
“The lanes! Let’s Go!” Luther yelled, then they all started to sprint towards the lanes. Bullets tore up the ground around Pandora as she pushed her legs to go faster, bullets whizzing by too close to comfort. She slid down the last yard of the lane on the side of her leg, landing on her feet half stumbling as she ran down the corridor with the rest of the Hargreeves, Luther motioning towards the exit. 

…

They had ran, no, sprinted the whole way to the Icarus Theatre. Down the street, through the doors, up the stairs. The music Vanya was leading got louder and louder as they approached the main hall.  
I need to go alone. Allison wrote on her notepad.  
“Allison, I can’t let you do that, all right? She’s beyond reasoning,” Luther shook his head, Allison shoving him in response.  
“You hear the music? It’s started.” Diego argued.  
“Do you honestly think she’s gonna listen?” Luther asked rhetorically, “After everything that’s happened?”  
“We don’t have time for this,” Klaus muttered.  
“Just let her go, she’s the best one out of all of us to do it,” Pandora was starting to grow impatient.  
Luther sighed “Okay.” Allison turned towards the door and paced towards where the music was playing.  
“You’re using her as a distraction, aren’t you?” Diego asked.  
“She’s our best chance to incapacitate Vanya. She’ll thank us later,” They all started to move towards the doorway.  
“So, what's the plan?” Klaus asked.  
“Uh, you and Pandora wait out front.” Luther informed .  
“What? Why the hell am I being sent out to the front? I’ve always been your guy’s biggest hitters,” Pandora argued.  
“I know, but you are unstable, Pandora.” Luther said, putting a hand on Pandora’s shoulder, “I know you want to be out there, but you’ll only get yourself hurt. You and Klaus are going to be the lookouts.”  
“The lookout?” Klaus questioned.

…

“Do you want anything to eat Pandora?” Klaus asked as they stood in front of a Mexican food truck.  
“Unstable my ass,” Pandora muttered.  
“Pandoraaa,” Klaus sang  
“Hm? Oh, I’ll just have whatever you’re gonna have,” She spoke.  
“That’ll be two carne asada tortas, make sure there’s no cilantro on one of them,” Klaus repeated the order to the truck worker inside, who nodded and went straight to working on their food.  
“Do you think Luther’s right?” Pandora asked.  
“Huh? I asked for no cilantro on one of them, cause I know you have that weird gene that makes the thing taste like soap,” Klaus said.  
“Were you listening?”  
“Not really, I got excited about the food and spaced out,” Klaus admitted.  
Pandora sighed, “Do you think Luther’s right? About me being unstable?”  
Klaus took a beat, thinking over what she said, “If you were, then it’s understandable. But if you think about it, has this family ever been stable?”  
“Food’s ready!” the worker called. Pandora pulled some money out of her pocket and gave it to the worker, she was handed the food in return.  
Klaus grabbed his torta and took a bite out of it, “Hm. I don’t remember specifically asking for cilantro on mine,” his head shot up “What?”  
Gun fire shot out from inside the theatre, as Pandora turned her head, she could see the outline of who she could only assume was the assassin Cha-Cha.  
“Oh fuck!” She gasped, then grabbed Klaus and drug him to a spot on the truck where she wouldn’t be able to see them.  
“This is it, mofo. Go time! Go Time!” Klaus whispered as he started to run towards the entrance of the theatre, Pandora following him without question. “C’mon man, we’re the damn lookouts!”  
They followed the same path from earlier, bursting into the main hall. The main hall was now empty save the siblings and the gun men. The siblings huddling behind chairs for cover as Vanya continued to play her song on stage in a brilliant white light.  
The music was beautiful, almost intoxicating. She stood up there as a one man act as her arm swiftly flew back and forth.  
The music.  
Vanya and Marin used to duet when they were younger. Vanya with her violin while Marin played the piano. They used to practice for weeks at a time so they could have their own version of a concert for their caretakers. Pandora’s mom, Grace, and Pogo always gave them polite applause while Reginald would just stand in the back and give them a single nod. Marin wrote the music all by herself for her piano-  
Oh god  
Marin  
“Guys, It’s Cha-Cha, she--” Klaus shouted, Pandora grabbed him before a hail of bullets could hit him, tumbling to the ground in between a row of chairs.  
“Cover me!” Pandora shouted over the noise, before her soul left her body. She sprang back up to her feet, sprinting towards one of the many gun men. She lunged at them, grabbing the very essence of their soul and drug it out of their body. She closed her eyes and pushed her soul away from her own body and into one of the men’s, taking instant control. Her own body fell to the ground but she didn’t mind. Pandora took the gun, firing at the opposite gun men, three of them falling to the ground.  
She left the gunman’s in a heap before she saw it-- no, heard it. The screaming over the gunfire. Ben’s screaming. Ben stood in the middle of the hall with Klaus right behind him, Klaus’s fists glowing blue as tentacles emerging from Ben’s stomach took out the rest of the gunmen  
She entered back into her body, standing back up as tears entered her eyes a slight smile on her face, she didn’t have to be dead to see her love--  
The pain was almost immediate. Pandora felt each white hot shell enter her body, the points in her body beginning to fill up with heat. The pain arrived in her lower right side first, next was the upper left side of her body and last was the overwhelming wildfire where her sternum was. Pandora tumbled back, tripping on the edge of a theatre chair and falling down directly into her stomach.  
If these wounds would’ve been given to Pandora a day earlier, she would’ve tried to start putting pressure on the ones she could manage to reach, call out for someone to help her but… A part of her was relieved, she didn’t have to go on with the pain of losing her best friend of 28 years. Her only friend that’s been with her from the very beginning.  
Pandora shut her eyes slowly, the smallest of smiles adorning her soon to be cold lips.  
Pandora felt someone flipping her body over and a hand touch her face, stopping her from her long slumber. Ben’s features were the first thing she saw when her eyes opened back up. He looked as though he was a hologram, the way he seemed to flicker in and out from Pandora’s view.  
But his touch felt so real.  
“Am I…” Pandora whispered.  
Ben shook his head, “No, and you’re not going to,” His voice seemed to choke up but Pandora couldn’t seem to figure out why… Why was he sad? Shouldn't he be happy, they 're finally gonna be together. She felt two hands press down on her chest, pain shooting up from the wound to her throat. Pandora let out a strangled scream and lifted her head to see Ben’s hands covering her wound.  
“Stop,” Pandora whispered, every word that she said sent excruciating pain throughout her chest, her head falling back down to the carpeted flooring. Ben ignored her and called for Klaus twice, Let me see my sister again, let me hold you!  
Tears fell from Pandora’s bloodshot eyes and were soaked up by her hair and the carpet. Ben called for Klaus one more time, he seemed to be getting clearer to see with each minute.  
“Oh god, Pandora, you have blood all over your face.” The sentence fell out more like a whisper compared to the noise that was happening all around them. He took off his hands from her wounds and wiped the blood that had fallen from her eyes away with his thumbs, holding her head gently.  
A tear fell from Ben’s face onto Pandora’s, it was cold and wet but it definitely wasn’t her own. The lips connecting with hers felt all too familiar, they were the same slightly chapped lips that kissed her over and over again 13 years prior. The pain in the rest of Pandora’s body was ignored as she tried to soak up and savor every feeling and touch from Ben like she should have on prom night. He seemed to keep a firm hand on the chest wound, though his hand was not soaked in blood like the rest of her shirt.  
Ben pulled away and put his hands back in their initial position, Pandora sobbing even more. It was only then that she noticed the gunshots had completely stopped.  
Bouncy curls covered in sweat and soot jumped over the row of chairs to the right of Pandora. Pandora then heard a string of profanities and a set of warm hands cover the wound on the lower part of her body.  
“Klaus,” Pandora choked.  
He popped his head into Pandora’s periferal. “Hey, Hi, you need to stay awake!” He looked terrified, his eyes open wide.  
“Stop--”  
“No!” Klaus cut off, “No you’re not dying on me because I need you, understand?” Klaus took off the green military vest and placed it onto the side wound. “DIEGO,” He yelled.  
Pandora’s eyes began to shut again but Klaus began to protest, “Open your eyes! I cant lose my sister alright? DIEGO GET OVER HERE.”  
Panic embedded itself as deep as the bullet wounds in her body. It was slow at first. Pandora accepted her own death as soon as the bullets had entered her body. Then slow turning seconds passed, her own blood seeping into the carpet, Ben and Klaus screaming their vocal cords raw for help. Would the next breath she takes in be her last?  
It was getting hard to breathe, pain continued to rack every nerve. Her body worked harder to get the panicked, ragged breath into her but she was receiving less and less oxygen as her fingertips began to lose heat. She tried to grasp onto Ben's hand but she was even losing her strength there.  
Had she done everything that she could? Or had she chosen to die on that day that Ben passed so many years ago?  
She hadn’t even noticed that Diego was right next to her until he had picked her up in his arms, moving carefully towards the center stage.  
Everything was muffled. All the sharp edges and bright lights in her view had become softer, more distorted. She could hear the siblings talk, but couldn’t make any sense of what they were actually saying.  
The only person she could see was Ben, he was perfect in every way in her eyesight. He was the only thing she could see perfectly through the mess of her eyesight.  
The Umbrella Academy was like a mosaic, beautiful, but broken. They were doomed to collapse from the day Number Five had disappeared.  
Then Number Five reappeared with a wild look in his eye, and a plan to stop the apocalypse.  
They assembled together again with false hopes to save the world, but they couldn’t even save themselves.  
Pandora lied in Diego’s arms, oxygen escaping her lungs as blood still flows steadily from the wounds in her chest. Hopes in saving the world, saving Marin, were dying as quickly as she was.  
Klaus’s blood stained hands gripped her leg, Ben holding onto Pandora’s shoulder as blue electricity crackled above them.  
“Pandora, just hold on! Just for a little bit longer!” Ben shouted over the electricity “Pandora, I love—“  
Then everything was silent as it went black.


	12. Damned Upon Arrival : Chapter One : oh lord, again? a fucking gain? nothing new,  nothings changed, same old shit, same old fucking shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning !!!!! Graphic ptsd episode / panic attack from the narrator's POV.

Cast of : Damned Upon Arrival

Constance Wu as : Pandora Green

Simu Liu as : Gene Zhao

Taylor Russel as : Alma Hazel

...

1994

The drive from Northern California was exhausting. But through all the endless rural roads, frequent potty breaks for the twins, and ridiculous traffic, she finally made it.  
Her sister said it was a bad idea, she stated that numerous times. Robin tried everything she could do for her little girl, but nothing worked. The tantrums still came, and she didn’t know how Pandora managed to make her hands glow blue. They left northern California just a few days ago, sold the house, and had moved into The City. She didn’t want to prove Jamie right, but she didn’t want to prove her wrong either. It was too late to go back now, they had already come this far and Robin had made more than enough phone calls.  
Now she was standing in front of the Umbrella Academy, holding both of her girl’s hands.  
“Momma, why are we here?” Pandora asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes with her other hand.   
“Because sweetie, we gotta meet our new neighbors, that’s what you do when you move somewhere new,” Robin explained, “Besides, there’s someone here that can help you Pandora.”  
The door opened, a blond woman standing in the doorway “Are you here to see Sir Reginald?” She asked. There was something periodic about her, it was like she was taken right out of a magazine ad from the 50s. The perfect hair, the wide brimmed dress.  
“Yes, we are,” Robin nodded.  
The woman smiled and opened the door wider for them to enter. “Sir Reginald is in his office at the moment, I will take you up to meet him. Do you want me to introduce them to the other children?”   
“Of course, Marin and Pandora would love to meet them,” Robin nodded as they stepped inside the house  
“Great, my name is Grace,” She smiled, then shut the door, “The children are currently in their study at the moment, but they will love to meet someone new. Follow me, please.”  
Grace led them down several hallways and a set of stairs before they reached a collection of bedrooms.  
“Here we have Number Seven, Vanya.” Grace introduced the first of seven other children, all wearing identical school uniforms.  
“They have numbers for names?” Robin questioned.  
“Sir Reginald gave them numbers, I gave them names,” Grace informed, then continued to introduce the rest of the children. Number one, Luther. Number Two, Diego. Number Three, Allison. Number Four, Klaus. Number Five, Five. Then finally Number Six, Ben.  
“If you would like, I can take you up to Sir Reginald now,” Grace turned on her heel to face Robin.  
“Of course,” Robin said, letting go of Marin and Pandora’s hands with some reluctance, “I’ll be done before you know it. If you need anything, just come and get me. I love you two.” Robin kissed the top of their heads before following Grace up the stairs.  
“All of those children, they're a part of all the children that were born on the same day, right?” Robin asked  
“Correct, Sir Reginald sought out and adopted seven of those children and now they are The Umbrella Academy.”  
“Grace, can he help my baby girl?” Robin asked.  
Grace paused, turning back to Robin, “Sir Reginald will be more than willing to help Pandora. He will answer all the questions you have.” She smiled, then knocked on a door before opening it.  
“Sir, your company is here.”  
Inside the office is an older man, busy writing away in a book. The man’s clothing seemed timely and out of date, he was out of place. His hair was a light brown, greying at the roots; the chain on his monocle swaying ever so slightly with any small movement. This had to have been Reginald Hargreeves, he fit the description given by the media. He looked up, then stood up from his seat. “Ah yes, it’s nice to see you again, Robin. Please, take a seat.”  
Robin sat down in the chair nearest to his desk as he sat down once again.  
“Now, Explain to me what is happening with your little girl.” He opened up his book, grabbing a pen.  
“Well, it started happening about two weeks ago. Pandora has always had these issues when it came to her temper, she would go on these hours-long tantrums. My husband and I had gotten pretty good on managing her, but then this event started happening,” Robin recalled, “Multiple times I would walk into the room, and Pandora’s hands would be glowing blue, she would hit Marin and Marin would just be in this stunned like state.”   
Reginald flipped the page in his book, writing furiously. “Continue,” He nodded.   
“That’s all that’s happened so far, Marin never seemed hurt afterwards, just tired. But I don’t want to wait until Pandora accidentally hurts Marin.”  
Reginald nodded again, setting aside his book and reaching into a drawer in his desk, pulling out a check book.  
“Now, how much do you want for the girl?” He questioned.  
“Oh no, there must be a misunderstanding, I’m not giving you Pandora,” Robin frantically shook her head.  
“Why not? The girl is obviously out of your control.”  
“Because Pandora is my baby, I can’t just give her away,” Robin scoffed, “You said you would help her, so that’s what you’re gonna do.” This man was Robin's last hope, she had already done an a-z list of trying to help Pandora, but nothing helped. However she was not willing to just hand over her child.  
“Alright then,” Reginald said to his own surprise, putting away his checkbook, “How may I help her?”

…

Present (?)

It was much like the sensation of going to bed and waking up almost instantly the next day. There’s no rest, and the knowledge of the upcoming bad day is glooming over.  
Except, when Pandora opened her eyes, she was no longer in the Icarus Theatre. No, this place was much lighter, and the ceiling was much, much closer to her. Her eyes stung from the yellow light illuminating the room in an unflattering way. Had to be a Hospital room.  
There was a table sat to her left with a white rotary telephone and a vase full of flowers that desperately needed more water, a small note tucked in between the leaves of the flowers. The shades sat halfway in the window, sun shining across the floor and the white bedsheets. The fading pale blue wallpaper seemed to stare back at her. The chair in front, and to the right, sat empty.  
Pandora sat up in the bed, only to be hit with immediate searing pain in her chest, shoulder, and hip.  
Oh yeah, she got shot.   
How could she forget? The pain, The blood on Klaus’s hands, Ben screaming his vocal cords raw in the attempt to get help.   
“No you’re not dying on me because I need you, understand?”  
Klaus’s voice rang through her ears, she didn’t even know where he was, was that the last time she would ever see him?  
“Oh, please don’t sit up!” the voice threw her off, the slight texan drawl. A nurse entered the room, easing Pandora back into her bed. “I was thinking you’d never wake up!” She had said this somewhat under her breath like she was talking to herself. Her uniform was definitely dated, with a white dress with an apron covering the skirt and a white hat tucked neatly into her hair. That was… odd. Pandora had only seen outfits like that in history books, tv shows and as crude halloween costumes.  
Pandora tried not to think about it too much, shoving the detail to the side.  
“What’s the date?” Pandora asked, rubbing her eyes with her hands.  
“The date?” The nurse’s eyebrows drew together, “April 6th, you were out cold for five days.”  
“Six days?”   
The apocalypse.  
They stopped it, they must have. Her shoulders dropped a bit, a feeling of relief wash over her.  
“Yep, we found you back in the alley right next to Morty’s. I cannot emphasize enough how much of a miracle it is for you to be alive,” The nurse continued, moving around the room checking on the machines and vitals.   
Morty’s? Where the hell was Morty’s?  
“Right,” Pandora tensed again, looking back at the empty chairs. There was something wrong, she could feel it. Where was Ben? Where was Klaus? She knew for a fact that at least one of them would be here, there was no way they would leave her alone at a hospital.   
What the hell happened with Vanya? Did they avoid their inevitable doom? Is the apocalypse magically over now?  
Where the hell was The Umbrella Academy?  
She craned her neck to see if there was any sort of device that could tell her the date, or even the year. Pinned on the back of the door was a calendar, but she couldn’t quite see what it displayed.  
“Is there something wrong? Do you need me to ya anything?”  
“Has anyone come in to see me?” Pandora questioned.  
The nurse paused, putting a hand on her hip. “No, not anyone that I have seen. There was a man who dropped off those flowers there, I think he was an employee over at Morty’s.” She turned to the table behind her, grabbing a clipboard. “What is your name, miss? Just so that we have a record of ya.”  
“Oh, Pandora,” She responded, the nurse writing on the clipboard in response.   
“And your last name?”  
“Green.”  
“Alright Miss Green, I’m going to grab Doctor Alborn, ” She smiled, then turned towards the door.  
“Wait, what’s your name?” Pandora questioned.  
“I’m Alma,” The nurse responded, “I’ll be right back, don’t you worry.”  
The moment Alma left the room, Pandora was trying to shuffle off the bed, trying to find the least painful way possible to get up and onto her feet. She swung her feet over the edge of the bed, grabbing a nearby IV pole with her left hand to stabilize herself.  
With a silent countdown, she lifted herself off her bed, pain shooting up from her hip and into her chest. She gripped the pole tightly, turning on her heel taking shakey steps towards the door.   
She lifted her head to see the calendar posted on the door.  
April 1959  
Her eyebrows stitched together, puzzling over the date. How the hell did she manage to project herself 60 years into the past? Pandora started laughing, there was no way this is real. This had to be her in some comatose dream. Her free hand made its way up to her hair, fisting the roots and giggling silently.  
That had to be it because there’s no way in hell that she could be in 2019 one day and 1959 six days later! Absolutely no way.  
Her chest began to feel a little bit tighter as she thought about it more. If this was a dream why would her wounds be hurting this bad. Either she hated herself that much or...  
Pandora squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember anything that would help her from the night she got shot.  
The blue electricity, she saw it whenever Five jumped, and the portal he used to get back to 2019. And it was there that night in the theater.  
Pandora opened the door, moving silently through the door frame. To her right she could see Alma opening another door, closing it behind her.  
Pandora moved down towards the hallway, the sight of a stairwell leading to the lower floors clear in her vision.  
“Ma’am, what do you think you’re doing?” the voice startled Pandora. The Texan accent, again. She turned to the doctor behind her, Alma shortly behind the doctor.  
Pandora paused and turned around slowly, “Getting some fresh air, you?” she questioned, leaning heavily on the iv stand with a weak smile.  
“I’m going to have to ask you to return to your room,” The doctor insisted, approaching her slowly.  
Pandora turned the rest of her body towards him, nodding. She grabbed the iv stand, shoving it at the doctor with all the strength she had before bolting in the direction ahead of her. Pain was shooting through her body like electricity but it didn’t matter, she had to get out. The clattering of steel on linoleum and cursing confirmed she bought herself at least some time.  
Pandora pushed off a wall as she turned a corner, looking behind her to see the doctor and a nurse running at her. Her head whipped back around and was greeted by a wall.  
Pandora stumbled back, gripping her head, darkness completely clouding her vision once more.

…

When she opened her eyes again she was in the same room as before, except this time her head was throbbing. The door was open, and she could briefly see Alma and the doctor talking to two men in black uniforms. Their conversation was veiled in hushed whispers.  
The doctor looked back into the room, excusing himself from the conversation before entering Pandora’s room.  
“Good Afternoon, Pandora,” He forced a smile, “I’m Doctor John Alborn. How are you feeling?”  
“Head hurts,” She put simply, attempting to lift her hand to her head only to notice her hand wasn’t moving. Pandora moved her eyes down to see her hands weakly bound to the hospital bed. “My uh, shoulder, chest, and hip also hurt.” She quickly came to the conclusion that she could break out of these if she needed to but given the amount of people in the room, and the two guns strapped to the dark uniforms outside, it probably wasn’t the best idea.  
“Are you able to put your pain on a scale?” He asked, sitting in the chair at the end of her bed.  
Pandora tilted up her jaw, glaring at the doctor, “How about we start with this,” she began, “Where the hell am I?”   
“Saint Eli’s hospital in Dallas, Texas. We have speculated you may have suffered some memory loss from an intense concussion. Miss Green, we found bullet fragments in your hip and sternum. The only bullet that made it all the way through was the one in your shoulder.” Doctor Alborn shook his head, “Miss Green, I’ve been working in the medical field for over 15 years. Hell, I started out with treating soldiers fresh from the war. But you honestly make our heads spin. I have never seen anyone with your wounds survive. Especially with that bullet in your chest.”  
“Doctor Alborn, if you would allow us, we would like to question her,” One of the men with the black uniforms stepped into the room, the shiny badge in his chest and the gun on his hip signifying that he was of the police department.  
These men were clearly different from the staff she’s seen in the hospital, they were police officers for one but apart from that they were white. They stuck out like a sore thumb.  
“Of course,” Alborn nodded, standing up from his chair, “Alma, could you please stay in here with Miss Green, just in case she needs anything.”   
Alma nodded as the officers entered the room, sharing a glance with the doctor as he left the room. One officer took a seat to her right, the other opting to stay by the door.  
“Miss Green, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Officer Harper and this is my partner, Officer Parks. you were involved in a situation involving some gunmen on the date of April 1st.” The officer spoke in the tone of that they didn’t even want to be here, like this was the last case for them before they got their coffee break.   
“Yeah they shot me, hurts to exist right now,” Pandora replied sarcastically.   
“Miss Green, where do you live? Where is your family from?” He asked, tossing aside her response.  
“Northern California, Eureka more specifically.” Pandora responded.   
“Do you know any of the gunmen?”  
The image of the gunmen flashed across her vision. The red gas masks they wore to stay anonymous. The scene of Lovecraftian tentacles whipping across the room, tearing them apart.  
“No,” She closed her eyes, responding honestly.  
“Are you involved with anything that may have aggravated the assault?”   
She was trying to stop the apocalypse, along with the rest of the academy.  
“Not that I’m aware of,” Pandora shook her head, ache creeping in her mind, panic setting into her chest as more images flashed across her vision. She screwed her eyes shut.  
“Miss Green, what exactly is your business in Dallas-“ the police officer started, but Pandora wasn’t able to hear the rest of his sentence before the night played out in full in a matter of seconds on repeat like a broken record. The screaming, the blood on the floor, the blue electricity crackling above her.   
It felt like someone had driven an ice pick in her forehead and was trying to split her skull in half from there. She pulled against the restraints, her chest falling and rising rapidly, shooting pain everywhere.  
“God it fucking hurts, my head hurts.” Pandora gasped, tears pricking her eyes, “I don’t know, just leave me alone.”  
“I think it’s time you gentlemen leave,” Alma pushed.  
“We’re in the middle of a questioning, Miss,” the officer sneered.  
“My patient is in distress and you have clearly upset her. I need you to leave, now.”   
The shuffling of feet and closing of doors indicated that the officers had left. Pandora opened her eyes to see Alma closing the blinds.  
Pandora tugged at her restraints a final time, the pace of her breathing slowing as images started to leave.  
“I am so sorry Pandora, I would have never let those police officers in if I knew this was going to happen.” Alma apologized, looking a little frazzled herself. It was clear she didn’t like what had just happened. She opened one of the cabinets, taking out a few pills from a bottle before putting it back.   
“Here, these will help you with your nerves.” She assisted Pandora in taking several pills, washing them down with some water.  
She smoothed her apron, turning back to Pandora. “You need rest, at least until tomorrow. If you need anything there’s a phone to your left and the front desk number is by the phone.”  
Alma turned to the door, looking back at Pandora before shutting the door.  
Pandora looked around her room, taking in her surroundings in the darker tone.  
She knew deep down in her gut, that she was damned even before her arrival.


End file.
